By Jennifer Chang     Photo：Jimmy Chan

According to new data, Hong Kong International Airport is the busiest cargo airport in the world. Airports Council International (ACI) world’s data shows Hong Kong achieved just over 5m metric tonnes of cargo in 2021 . Memphis International Airport in second place reached 4.5m metric tonnes . This was followed by Shanghai Pudong International Airport achieving 4m metric tonnes . The other top 10 airports for cargo in ranking order are Anchorage in Alaska US, Incheon in South Korea, Louisville in Kentucky US, Taipei in Taiwan, Los Angeles in California US, Tokyo in Japan and Doha in Qatar. Even though the pandemic has severely affected flight operations around the world, the strong demand for e-commerce and medical supplies has continued to grow.

Since the outbreak  in Hong Kong in January , the Hong Kong government has listed the  nine countries including Australia, Canada, France, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States as "highest-risk areas" and completely banned flights from these countries. Now that the pandemic has improved, the Hong Kong government has begun to loosen  restrictions and announced that the flight ban for nine countries will be revoked from April 1. However, in the first week after the cancellation of the flight ban, not only the number of flights arriving in Hong Kong from Asian cities was halved, but also long-haul flights from Europe and the United States were "zeroed"; IATA said Hong Kong no longer plays the role of an international aviation hub due to restrictions on inbound flights and quarantine of passengers. Hong Kong has fallen behind other regions, and all airlines  there are facing difficult times. At present, many airlines have announced that they will not resume flights to Hong Kong due to restrictions on inbound flights and passenger isolation regulations. Even though the Hong Kong government lifted the flight ban from nine countries earlier this month and shortened the quarantine days for inbound travellers, the measures still deter tourists. Unless air passenger  returns to normal, Hong Kong  hardly be  as an international aviation hub by air cargo alone.

As Hong Kong International  airport expands , the new third runway is on schedule to start operations this year. The airport will be the  largest international cargo hub  in the world and will be able to handle around 10 million tonnes of cargo.  Hong Kong International Airport has always been a global air cargo hub, but it has faced many challenges in recent years.  The first three months of the year, cargo volumn and flight  at Hong Kong International Airport decreased by 9.2% and 1.0% respectively.  These include the rapid rise of other major airports in the Greater Bay Area (Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport), and the increasingly stringent epidemic prevention and control has affected the number of flights. These developments and changes have had a considerable impact on the competitiveness of Hong Kong's logistics industry, air freight forwarding industry and Hong Kong International Airport, enough to shake the air cargo hub status.

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