Hong Kong International Airport handled 259,000 tonnes of cargo in May as shrinking markets in Europe and the United States hit traffic hardest, the Airport Authority Hong Kong said in a statement released on Sunday.

The number of passengers passing through the airport, which is one of Asia's key transport hubs, dropped 12.7 per cent year-on-year to 3.6 million, the statistics showed.

Passenger markets that suffered most were southeast Asia, Taiwan, Japan, China and north America.

The total number of journeys in and out of the airport dropped 9.1 per cent over the same period.

'The negative performance reflected largely the impact of continuing global recession and the new but serious impact of influenza A(H1N1) virus, further weakening the aviation market and resulting in airlines reducing flight frequencies,' said Airport Authority chief executive officer Stanley Hui.

He said he expected the trend to continue through June. -- AFP