Protests Close Hong Kong Airport For Second Day

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: August 13, 2019

91 comments

Big protests have been going on in Hong Kong for the past couple of months, though largely aviation hasn’t been impacted too much. We’ve seen some flights canceled due to employees calling in sick so they can participate in protests, but that’s about it.

Well, the past several days the airport and airlines are becoming more of a focal point of this situation. For one, we’ve seen China make huge demands of Cathay Pacific, requesting they provide the names of employees operating flights to China, and even flights using Chinese airspace (even if they’re to other destinations). The fear is that they could punish those employees who have participated in protests (though in reality this seems to me like it’s more a fear tactic).

Initially airport protests were supposed to last for three days, though yesterday marked day four of airport protests. At around 6PM local time yesterday (Monday) we saw Hong Kong International Airport close.

The protests have become increasingly severe, as the focus has shifted from being primarily about the extradition bill, to being more about the police violence and brutality that we’ve seen in the past several weeks.

The airport did reopen this morning, though it looks like it’s now closed once again, for the second day in a row. Hong Kong International Airport posted the following statement at 5:15PM local time:

Terminal operations at Hong Kong International Airport have been seriously disrupted, and all check-in processes have now been suspended. All passengers are advised to leave the terminal buildings as soon as possible. Affected passengers please contact their respective airlines for flight arrangement.

@JournoDannyAero has been providing some incredible airport coverage, which gives you a sense of just how bad things are.

Live from north security pic.twitter.com/MVrp0cDHTu

— Danny Lee (@AirEVthingTRNSP) August 13, 2019

Here was the scuffle in T2 @SCMPNews pic.twitter.com/YLX60cwCTP

— Danny Lee (@AirEVthingTRNSP) August 13, 2019

As before, this doesn’t just impact people traveling to & from Hong Kong, but even those connecting there. If you’re scheduled to travel through Hong Kong, you’ll want to contact your airline and rebook.

We’ll have to see how this unfolds. As the protests continue the stakes seem to get higher. Shutting down Hong Kong International Airport for the second day is a massive move, and I imagine something has to give here pretty soon.

Stay safe, everyone…

Did anyone travel through HKG the past few days? If so, what was it like?

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Enel Guest

August 16, 2019, 5:15 am

There and now CX's CEO resigned....

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Jan Guest

August 16, 2019, 3:26 am

Did you stop to think...why the airport? Because now they have International news coverage...your all talking about it...all over the world...

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Nate Guest

August 14, 2019, 2:35 pm

Lucky... you need to stop talking about Hong Kong. Look at the mess you made in here.

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Peter New Member

August 14, 2019, 3:00 am

Ok I am going to buck the trend here and actually talk about the subject without a political view. I am in Hong Kong now, arrived Monday morning at 8:15. Right on time thanks to Air Astana. Ben thanks for the review two years ago that I found on the web, you are right it is a great airline. By the time I got to Arrival Hall B it was quiet, no demonstration Today I have 6:20pm flight out of terminal one. Decided to arrive early, it is 3:00pm as I write this inside Terminal one. Traffic was light and no demonstrations outside. Security was at each door checking boarding passes but this Disney like line went fast, less than five minutes. Check in at Miat’s counter was fast as was immigration. All in all the troubles at HKG are not apparent this afternoon. Looking forward to my flight to Ulaan Baatar.

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BillC Gold

August 14, 2019, 12:48 am

@Julia -- you are correct in every aspect! @Kevin -- "... But that is not an excuse to do self-harm… It is time to reflect what is the right way to fix the system. After all, it is the people in HK got hurt most! with little to no harm on the Beijing side." HK has had since 1997 - 2019 (22 years) to experience China's "one country, two systems" style of government before arriving at where they are today, with their protesting! I'm guessing that IF there were a "nice" way to "fix" the system, the HK people (who are most likely above average intelligence!) would have done so, by now -- so then there would have been NO need for all of their current protesting, right? As for "reconciliation" it is NOT the "police force, businesses, and 'older people'" who have the power to sway the HK government into reconciling with the protesters -- only Beijing can do that! Do you believe that Beijing is interested to do that? As for the protesters who "... increasingly treat their fellow citizens as their enemy ...", from where do you get such an interpretation of the events in HK? Just about every segment of HK society has supported the protesters, excepting the police force (by governmental mandate), certain government-controlled media (also by mandate), and HK government itself (as a given)! As for "Beijing has more excuses not to give HK more freedom," from where do you get such an idea? Beijing has already reneged on the original terms of its 1997 Agreement by collapsing any hope for self-styled elections in HK, so how can more freedom be given to HK? Are you suggesting that Beijing will back-track on its reneging?

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