Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) recorded a 4.8% rise in the number of passengers handled in March 2016 compared to March 2015, with a total of 6 million passengers.

Aircraft movements were also up by 2.2% year-over-year to 35,060. HKIA management described March growth as “steady”; indeed, January 2016 saw a much larger 16% growth.

Bucking a regional trend for shrinking cargo volumes, HKIA also saw a “mild” increase in cargo volumes in March compared to the previous year. Mach cargo volume rose to 368,000 tonnes, up 1.1% year-over-year. Cargo growth came principally from the India and Australasian markets, which saw up to 5% growth in export demand.

Executive Director Airport Operations C K Ng said HKIA was concentrating on developing smart airport technologies to enhance operational efficiency and passenger experience. One example he cited is HKIA’s Self Bag Drop service, which has so far been adopted by Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong Airlines.

“This new service enables passengers to cut processing time by half compared to queuing at traditional check-in counters,” said Ng.

Overall, for the first quarter 2016, HKIA handled 17.6 million passengers and saw 102,880 aircraft movements. These figures indicated 7.5% and 4% rises in each, compared to 1Q 2015 respectively.