HONG KONG -- Hong Kong International Airport registered growth in passenger volume and aircraft movements in September, with passenger traffic up 5.4 percent from a year earlier to 4.3 million and flights up 6.1 percent to 27,695, the airport said Sunday in a statement.

Cargo volume for September, however, dropped 6.1 percent year on year to 325,000 tons, according to the statement.

The growth in passenger traffic was mainly driven by visitor traffic which registered yearly growth of 7 percent. Passenger traffic to and from South East Asia performed particularly well.

The decline in cargo tonnage in September was mainly attributed to the 10 percent year-on-year drop in exports. Imports decreased 6 percent and transshipments grew 5 percent compared to the same month last year. Europe, North America and Taiwan experienced double-digit declines in overall cargo traffic.

The airport CEO Stanley Hui Hon-chung said he was also delighted that Japanese airlines ANA chose to operate new generation aircraft at the Hong Kong airport, which reflected the significance of the airport as a regional and international aviation hub.

Later in October, ANA will operate a special charter flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong using the world's first Boeing-787 Dreamliner aircraft.

In the first three quarters of 2011, passenger traffic of the Hong Kong airport recorded a yearly 5.8 percent increase, reaching 40.2 million, while flight movements surged 10.3 percent to 248,020. Cargo volume dropped 3.9 percent to 2.9 million tons.