The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said Hong Kong International Airport has all the things needed to retain its international hub status.

The association’s deputy director general Conrad Clifford made the comment on Thursday during a visit to the SAR.

He told RTHK: “The key to a successful hub, the first absolute requirement is a hub-based carrier. And obviously Hong Kong has that, Cathay Pacific makes a lot of sense."

Clifford added another edge for Hong Kong is its experience and expertise in handling perishable goods, lithium batteries and other dangerous cargo.

But he said though passenger processing is speedy, Hong Kong airport can consider ditching processes where travellers are required to fill paper forms. Clifford said they should be able to just “walk through” with minimal requirements.

In terms of the pace of recovery, he also said Hong Kong is not lagging behind.

The IATA revised its forecast for the recovery of the territory’s aviation industry last month, predicting that it will return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024, three years earlier than previously expected.

“We were really pleasantly surprised earlier this year when China actually opened up the international market again,” Clifford explained. “We're quite sure that Hong Kong and Asia will be back by the end of 2024.”

However, Clifford said he is concerned with the airport’s capacity to cope with passenger demand, particularly after the supply chain took a beating from the pandemic.

“What happened during the pandemic was that a number of downstream suppliers went out of business... And then as those have reverted back up again many of those suppliers are no longer there or they've cut capacity or capability,” he said.

“So they can't actually supply the [spare] parts that are needed for new aircraft or existing aircraft.”

He said it will take about up to two years for the supply chain to be back to pre-pandemic levels.