HONG KONG (REUTERS) - Hong Kong International Airport reported its biggest fall in passenger numbers in more than a decade in November, official data released on Sunday (Dec 15) showed.

The airport handled just over five million passengers, down 16.2 per cent from a year earlier, Airport Authority Hong Kong said in a statement.

That was the largest fall since June 2009, when the figure fell by 18.7 per cent, data on the Civil Aviation Department's website showed.

There were falls of more than 12 per cent in the three previous months, the Civil Aviation Department data showed.

Hong Kong has been gripped by sometimes-violent protests since June. Demonstrators halted operations at the airport for several days in August.

The Airport Authority did not immediately comment.