A joint US-Israeli attack on Iran forced airlines to cancel or delay at least 27 flights from Hong Kong to destinations in the Middle East on Sunday, leaving travellers stranded at the city’s airport.
Hundreds of passengers packed Hong Kong International Airport on Sunday morning to inquire about the suspended departures, primarily to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Doha in Qatar and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Hong Kong flagship carrier Cathay Pacific Airways was among the airlines to suspend all passenger and cargo flights to and from the Middle East on Saturday, following airspace closures in the wake of the air strikes.
Luo Kui, a 45-year-old Shanghai software architect, was stranded overnight in Hong Kong after his Cathay flight to Dubai, scheduled at 5pm on Saturday, was cancelled.
On Sunday morning, the airline gave him two options: he could either keep his connecting flight to Dubai – tentatively rescheduled for March 4 – but pay for his own accommodation until departure, or change his ticket and return to Shanghai.
“This isn’t fair,” Luo, who has worked in Abu Dhabi for two years, told the South China Morning Post. “A flight from Shanghai to Hong Kong takes only a few hours – about a third of the time it takes to fly from Hong Kong to Abu Dhabi. In a fair situation, the airline should refund some money to us.”
He added that he had chosen to return to Shanghai on Sunday afternoon.
“Who knows how long I would have to stay in Hong Kong until the war ends,” Luo said. “Why not go home first and see when the situation stabilises … I will at least have more control over my losses.”
As overnight retaliatory attacks by Iran spread across the Gulf states, four people were injured at a concourse in Dubai International Airport, where there was “minor damage”, according to the UAE’s media office.
A check on the Hong Kong airport website on Sunday by the SCMP found that flights to Dubai were the most affected: three passenger flights and nine cargo flights were cancelled, and three cargo flights were delayed.
The air strikes also led to the cancellation of one passenger flight and three cargo flights, and the delay of five cargo flights, to Doha. The website showed that a cargo flight to Abu Dhabi and two flights to Riyadh were also cancelled on Sunday.
The Airport Authority told the SCMP that as of 11am on Sunday, nine passenger flights had been cancelled due to the situation in Iran. It advised affected passengers to contact the relevant airlines to make alternative arrangements.
Hong Kong’s Travel Industry Council said that Dubai and Doha were major hubs for connecting flights to and from Europe, so a temporary airspace shutdown in the Middle East would greatly disrupt those routes.
Despite the situation, fewer than 10 tours scheduled to depart or arrive in Hong Kong on Sunday and Monday would be affected, the council added.
Steve Huen Kwok-chuen, executive director of EGL Tours, said a group of 21 people were stranded in Morocco after their flight to Hong Kong was cancelled on Saturday night. Arrangements were made for them to stay in a hotel until flights could resume.
Plans were also disrupted for another group of 26 travellers scheduled to leave Hong Kong for Morocco.
Huen said that a tour group in Dubai was unable to return to Hong Kong and was awaiting further information on Saturday night.
“The situation is not very clear, we are still observing [developments],” he said.
Airlines across the globe have been forced to cancel flights or circumvent parts of the Middle East due to ongoing security concerns.
As of Sunday midnight, live data from aviation analytics firm Cirium showed that 865 out of 3,326 flights operated by 12 airlines and scheduled for Middle Eastern destinations have been cancelled, as airspace was closed over the UAE and Qatar.
