Airport now open after snow deluge in Hokkaido delayed at least seven flights between Sapporo and Hong Kong
New Chitose Airport saw thousands of passengers trapped and 143 flights cancelled or delayed
Hongkongers looking forward to a white Christmas in Japan’s Hokkaido may see a dent in their winter wonderland plans as heavy snow in the region paralysed the local airport, with at least seven flights between the island and Hong Kong delayed by a day.
Though the New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido’s capital, Sapporo, is now open, the snow has affected 143 flights, which had to be cancelled or delayed, and thousands of passengers who were trapped at the airport.
Cathay Pacific Airways’ flight 582, which was scheduled to depart from Hong Kong at noon on Thursday, left at around 2pm and was forced to turn back midway, landing back at the international airport at around 7pm.
The flight departed again at around 9.30am on Friday.
The departure times for another two Cathay flights scheduled to leave on Friday were also changed to Saturday.
As for inbound flights, two Cathay ones and one Hong Kong Airlines flight, which were scheduled to depart from Sapporo on Thursday, are not expected to arrive until around 8pm on Friday, while one Cathay flight scheduled to leave at 11.40pm on Friday is expected to land in Hong Kong only at 1.35pm on Saturday.
Yuen Chun-ning, managing director of Worldwide Package Tour, said the travel agency had nine tour groups with about 300 members on Thursday and Friday affected by the snow. He said that the departure times for eight groups were delayed by one day and one group’s destination was changed to Tokyo.
Yuen said that around 90 per cent of the group members bought insurance for delays and would get compensation amounts of between HK$1,500 and HK$2,000.
“These are all five-day to seven-day groups,” he said. “Cutting one day from the itinerary will not seriously affect the travel arrangements.”
