Less air traffic in February 2020

Sharp drop in passenger traffic to and from China and Hong Kong

Since the coronavirus outbreak, there has been a sharp decline in the number of air passengers to and from mainland China and Hong Kong, in particular. In February 2019, passenger traffic between the Netherlands and China still stood at 89.4 thousand, versus 19.7 thousand last month; this represents a year-on-year decrease of 78 percent. For example, Dutch air carrier KLM has suspended all flights to mainland China since 4 February. The number of passengers travelling to and from Hong Kong fell from 31.3 thousand in February 2019 to 18.1 thousand twelve months later, a 42-percent decline. In the same month, passenger traffic to and from Singapore and South Korea declined by 3.5 and 2.6 percent respectively.

Fewer passenger flights between the Netherlands and China

The air traffic decline between the Netherlands and China in February primarily concerned passenger flights. In February 2019, there were 341 passenger flights between the Netherlands and China versus 122 last month, i.e. a 64-percent drop. The number of passenger flights to and from Hong Kong was down by 2.7 percent in the same period.

Measures taken by authorities and airline companies in February mainly concerned air passenger rather than cargo traffic. The number of cargo flights to and from China rose from 189 in February 2019 to 202 last month, representing an increase of nearly 7 percent.