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Overseas travel during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday boosted January's passenger throughput at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) to a total of 3.5 million, up 15.9 percent over the same month last year.

According to a press release from the Airport Authority on Sunday, fueled by the robust passenger traffic, aircraft movements surged 13.7 percent to 23,100 and set a record of 853 movements onJan. 27, which was a Friday prior to the start of the Lunar New Year holiday.

Around 500 additional passenger flights were added over the Lunar New Year holiday period from Jan. 24 to Feb. 9, with Taipei,Bangkok, Seoul and Singapore being the most popular destinations. Average daily passenger throughput within the period rose by 9 percent over the same period last year to 127, 000.

Air cargo continued to experience healthy growth in the month with the total throughput rising by 10.5 percent over last Januaryto 273,000 tons.

The robust air traffic growth has also stimulated demand for aviation fuel, resulting in continuous growth in its consumption at the airport.

Airport Authority Hong Kong's Commercial Director Hans Bakker said "the average consumption of aviation fuel has reached 14,700,000 liters per day in 2005, up 44 percent over the past seven years. It is estimated that the demand for aviation fuel will increase by at least 7 percent in 2006."

He added: "It is crucial for us to have sufficient and timely supply of aviation fuel to sustain the growth of the airport and Hong Kong."

All three air traffic categories witnessed encouraging growth over a rolling 12-month period. Both passenger throughput and aircraft movements recorded more than 10 percent year-on-year growth, amounting to around 41 million and 266, 000 movements, respectively. The air cargo figure also grew 9 percent to about 3.4 million.