Photo taken on March 28, 2019 shows the busy Hong Kong International Airport.Photo:Xinhua

Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) saw a 16.2 percent year-on-year decrease of passenger traffic in November, the biggest drop in 10 years, adding urgency for the transport hub to quell social unrest that has hit passengers' willingness to travel through to the city.

According to figures released by the Airport Authority Hong Kong on Wednesday, the HKIA only served 5 million passengers during the month. Almost all key figures in the transport hub declined even with the approach of the festival season. 

Flight movements dropped by 8.3 percent to 32,510 compared with a year earlier, while cargo throughput fell 3.4 percent to 450,000 tons, data from the authority showed.

"Passenger volume continued to be affected by weak visitor traffic, with passengers to and from the Chinese mainland and Southeast Asia experiencing the most significant decreases," read a statement on the authority's official website.

By contrast, there were increases in the number of visitors at nearby airports, such as Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport, both in South China's Guangdong Province.

The Baiyun International Airport has handled 70 million travelers as of Saturday this year, another jump after it broke the 65 million record last year. It is also expected to see a total of 19 million international visitors this year, an increase of 9 percent year-on-year, accounting for 25 percent of its total visitors.

Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport's passenger throughput increased by 4.9 percent in October this year, and posted a year-on-year rise of 7.2 percent in the first 10 months this year.

In 2018, Baiyun International Airport handled 69.72 million passengers, Shenzhen airport handled 49.35 million passengers, HKIA handled 74.7 million passengers.

Industry analysts noted that though months of social unrest in Hong Kong might deter people from using the once-busy airport in the short term, Hong Kong's financial hub position and its advantage as a transport hub will not be replaced by nearby cities easily.

The drop in the number of passengers in Hong Kong is temporary, Zou Jianjun of the Civil Aviation Management Institute of China, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Given Hong Kong's systemic advantages, if social order can be restored, Hong Kong airport still has advantages over those in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, Zou said, noting that the advantage of an airport depends on the stability of its economic and social development.