Air Freight News

Hong Kong airport trial runs passenger influx in easing signal

 Hong Kong International Airport has conducted a trial run of a major surge in passenger arrivals, in one of the clearest signs yet the finance hub could soon further relax Covid curbs.

Authorities replicated 1,000 passengers -- about three to four planeloads -- arriving within a 30-minute timeframe at the hub Thursday to stress test the “ability of the current quarantine and testing processes,” according to a government statement. The airport is designed to handle 6,200 arrivals per hour normally, according to the city’s aviation regulator.

Passengers of different ages, with incomplete documents and who tested positive were all included in the exercise, which went “smoothly,” according to the statement. The volume of passengers simulated was about double that handled in current peak hours, the government said.

Arrivals at Hong Kong airport have to submit to both RAT and PCR Covid tests, and show a range of documents to comply with the government’s pandemic entry requirements, as well as go through normal immigration and customs procedures.

The practice run for increased traffic suggests the government could be preparing to relax border curbs. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee is targeting scrapping hotel quarantine before a series of key November events, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. He pledged to bring “maximum connectivity” between the isolated financial hub and the rest of the world at a news briefing Thursday.

Since taking office on July 1, Lee has faced pressure from the international business community to reopen borders, still constrained by three-day isolation for arrivals. The city’s economy is set to contract for the third time in four years, as pandemic policies weigh on growth.  

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., the city’s biggest air carrier, plans to increase its passenger operations to about 25% of pre-Covid levels by year-end. As of July, it was operating at 12.4%. Cathay said it may hike capacity further on more quarantine reductions for aircrew.

Hong Kong handled 71.2 million passengers in 2019, according to Airport Authority Hong Kong, a figure that had fallen 99.9% by last year. On Sept. 1, three to four flights per hour arrived on average at the hub during the daytime, compared with up to 35 services per hour pre-Covid..

Bloomberg
Bloomberg

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© Bloomberg
The author’s opinion are not necessarily the opinions of the American Journal of Transportation (AJOT).

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