Hong Kong  - The decline in passenger numbers and cargo movements at Hong Kong International Airport has eased as the city's economy pulls out of recession, officials said Monday.

The airport, one of the world's busiest, handled 4 million passengers and 23,215 air-traffic movements in July, both figures down almost 10 per cent on the same month in 2008.

However, the year-on-year decreases were lower than the double-digit falls seen almost every month so far in 2009, a spokesman for the Hong Kong Airport Authority said.

The airport handled 291,000 tons of cargo in July, 8.3 per cent less than in July 2008 but the smallest percentage fall seen so far this year, the spokesman said.

"The latest figures indicate that the downward momentum may have slowed," the authority's chief executive officer Stanley Hui said.

"While we believe air-traffic figures will see milder drops in the months ahead, it will take some time before overall traffic performance returns to pre-crisis levels."

Hong Kong International Airport is the fourth-busiest international passenger airport in the world and has the world's busiest international air cargo facility.

Last year, more than 48.6 million passengers used the airport and it handled more than 3.6 million tons of cargo.

Hong Kong has been badly hit by the global economic slump, going into a technical recession at the end of 2008. However, figures last week showed the city of 7 million was officially out of recession. (dpa)