Hong Kong Flight Disruptions Increase: Airport Strike Update

(Bloomberg) -- Disruptions to flights in and out of Hong Kong worsened on Monday after protesters coordinated strikes to bring the city to a standstill.

After dozens of morning cancellations, airport authorities said they would reschedule flights starting from 12 p.m. local time and reduce the volume of arrivals and departures. Pilot and flight-crew unions for Hong Kong’s flag carrier, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., took part in the stop-work action.

Demonstrators also targeted key transport links and the airport’s high-speed rail service was suspended because of obstructions on trains and platforms.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam condemned protesters for pushing Hong Kong to the verge of a “very dangerous situation,” at a press briefing on Monday. Here’s what we know so far:

AirAsia Group

• Fourteen flights rescheduled, most of them between Hong Kong and Malaysia
• Airline tells passengers heading to or leaving Hong Kong to prepare for delays

Air China

• At least 10 flights to and from Hong Kong scrapped, including Beijing and Chongqing connections
• Airline cites “route reason” for the cancellations
• Click here for flight details

Cathay Pacific

• More than 70 flights leaving Hong Kong, mostly to destinations across Asia, canceled
• One Paris flight among those scrapped
• More than 60 incoming services, many of them from China, also canceled
• Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon, which operates some Cathay Pacific flights, “strongly recommend customers postpone non-essential travel”
• Click here for more details

Hong Kong Airlines

• Thirty flights in and out of Hong Kong canceled
• Scrapped services include flights to Shanghai and Beijing and some from Tokyo and Taipei
• Click here for details

HK Express

• Three scheduled services and one chartered flight canceled
• Airline temporarily closes downtown check-in counters

Related Developments

• Hong Kong airport is expected to restrict flights to just one runway (from two), according to the South China Morning Post
• The airport told passengers to head to the airport only if their flights and seats have been confirmed
• Disruption is focused on Hong Kong-based airlines, according to the airport’s arrivals and departures board; Korean Air and Singapore Airlines said flights were operating normally, for now.

--With assistance from Wendy Hu.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kyunghee Park in Singapore at kpark3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net, Angus Whitley, Jeff Sutherland

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