Hong Kong International Airport plays catch-up after anti-government strike cancels hundreds of flights
- Long waits and congestion expected as global hub works to get passengers to their destinations
- Local airlines cancelled about 250 passenger flights after air traffic controllers, flight attendants, pilots and ground crew joined strike
Hong Kong International Airport was in recovery mode on Tuesday morning as airlines worked to send passengers to their destinations after a crippling citywide strike forced hundreds of flight cancellations.
Hong Kong’s local airlines cancelled about 250 of 1,000 passenger flights on Monday after air traffic controllers, flight attendants, pilots and ground crew called in sick en masse in support of the anti-government strike.
Congestion was widely expected at the global transport hub, which handles an average of 200,000 travellers each day, after dozens of flights were rescheduled for Tuesday.
Twelve departing flights and 37 arrivals were cancelled on Tuesday.
Hong Kong International Airport was scheduled to handle 511 departing flights on Tuesday and a similar number of arrivals – a nearly full schedule. Nineteen of Monday’s cancelled flights were rescheduled for Tuesday.
Cathay Pacific and Dragon cancelled 20 services as of midday Tuesday, with HK Express delaying seven services and Hong Kong Airlines scrapping the same number.
As the largest airlines with almost control of half of the take-off and landing slots, the majority of Cathay Pacific and Dragon services were leaving on time, however, a handful of services was experiencing delays to mainly Asian destinations.
Some airlines, including the Cathay group, suspended free staff travel perks to rebook disrupted passengers on any flights with spare seats.
For travellers heading to mainland China, both the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and cross-border intercity trains were offering normal services on Tuesday morning.
On Monday morning, 10 scheduled cross-border intercity train services were cancelled, including five departing and five arriving. Services returned to normal after about 2.30pm on Monday.
Ng, a former flight attendant, said a large number of aviation personnel went on strike.
She understood that on a usual day, about 3,000 employees work at Cathay Pacific and 900 work at Cathay Dragon. She said she believed that about 1,500 Cathay Pacific staff and 500 Cathay Dragon employees did not go to work on Monday.
A Cathay source explained the airport terminal congestion, saying flights were delayed from leaving their parking spots because there were more planes on the ground at the time.
