Hong Kong airport protest chaos: Asian airlines wrestle with fallout after flights turned away from city
- Singapore Airlines, Cebu Pacific and Malaysia Airlines are among carriers forced to re-route aircraft after thousands of demonstrators descend on airport
- Aviation authority says operations are ‘seriously disrupted’ but hopes to resume service by 6am on Tuesday, local time
The city’s aviation authority said in the afternoon that inbound flights already in the air would be allowed to land at Hong Kong International Airport. Still, some carriers turned their flights back to the port of origin or re-routed them.
Among airlines with flights sent back were Singapore Airlines and its subsidiary Scoot, as well as the Philippines’ Cebu Pacific and Malaysia Airlines.
Hong Kong-bound Thai Airways flight 638, meanwhile, landed in Ubon Ratchathani in northern Thailand because it had insufficient fuel to return to Bangkok. The Malaysian budget airline AirAsia diverted a Hong-Kong bound flight to Shenzhen.
Scoot told This Week in Asia that Hong Kong-bound flight TR980 was turned back to the Lion City mid-flight after taking off from Changi airport just past 2pm local time (2am, Eastern Time).
The plane landed in Singapore at 9.10pm. Flight data websites showed it had nearly reached Hong Kong before doing the U-turn.
Scoot said passengers would be allowed to rebook at no additional charge or obtain a full refund.
Dorcas Wan, a Hong Kong accountant in her 50s, said the captain had told passengers he was trying to land in nearby Macau, Guangzhou or Shenzhen, but had been rejected by all three.
“I have mixed feelings,” Wan said. “If I am able to go home it means the airport is open and police had to use violence to clear it. I don’t want to see people hurt and bleeding any more.”
Another passenger on TR980, who did not want to be named, said she had only one thing to say: “We really love Hong Kong, but this has been really upsetting.”
A South China Morning Post reporter in Singapore who was Hong Kong-bound on TR974, another Scoot flight, said his journey had been cancelled while he was waiting at the gate.
The airline has offered passengers a one-night complimentary hotel stay and the choice of booking flights to Hong Kong, Macau or Guangzhou on Tuesday.
Singapore Airlines flight 872, which also departed in the early afternoon, landed in Guangzhou instead of Hong Kong.
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A representative from Indonesia’s national carrier, Garuda Indonesia, said a Hong Kong-bound flight was scheduled to leave at 12.40am Hong Kong time as planned but would arrive after 8am on Tuesday, meaning it would be in the air longer than the usual flight time of about five hours.
Mischa Chia, a Singapore-based technology company executive en route from the Lion City to Hangzhou via Hong Kong on a Cathay Pacific flight, said she was given the option of flying to her destination via Guangzhou on China Southern Airlines.
“But the earliest available flight out of Singapore is early morning on Tuesday, meaning I would reach there at 9pm,” Chia said.
“Apparently all flights out of Singapore, with or without transit to Hangzhou, were fully booked just two hours after the Hong Kong announcement …” she continued. “I decided to cancel my Cathay Pacific flight and instead booked my own tickets online, and will reach my destination via Seoul.”
She added: “It’s definitely an inconvenience as I’m travelling for business and have set meetings. But some inconveniences are understandable and sometimes necessary.”
Shukor Yusof, a prominent Malaysia-based aviation analyst, offered a harsh indictment of the protesters when asked about the immediate-term ripple effects that Tuesday’s disruptions would have on regional aviation hubs and airlines.
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“Protests in Hong Kong have, in recent weeks, morphed from placid picketing to outright mayhem brought about by a growing gangster-like group determined to sow discord between Hong Kong and mainland China,” Shukor told This Week in Asia.
“Hong Kong’s livelihood is dependent on mainland China and the sooner common sense prevails, the better for Hong Kong’s residents and economy,” he said.
It was unclear how many inbound flights had been affected by Monday’s disruption, and how long the airport would stay shuttered.
The city’s main airline, Cathay Pacific, said the cancellation period for its flights would last until Tuesday morning.
The Airport Authority said operations had been “seriously disrupted” but that it hoped to resume service by 6am on Tuesday.
The protest at the terminal came in response to overnight violence elsewhere in Hong Kong that demonstrators blamed squarely on police. In a press conference on Monday, however, police officials said they had used “appropriate” force.
The ongoing protests in Hong Kong – now in their 10th week – originated from widespread discontent over a controversial extradition bill.
They have morphed into a wider anti-government movement that includes radical elements who have wielded vandalism and “guerrilla-style” hit-and-run rampages in their stand-offs with police.
Additional reporting by Aloysius Undituasia
