Hong Kong International Airport said on Thursday that passengers from the Chinese mainland would be able to transit through Hong Kong to other destinations from Aug 15 until Oct 15, in a boost for its dominant carrier Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.
Passengers are required to have boarding passes under the same ticket if their connecting flights are operated by different airlines. Their luggage must be labeled with a tag to the destination
Travelers are also required to complete transfers within 24 hours.
Transit in the other direction, inbound to the Chinese mainland, will remain banned
Transit in the other direction, inbound to the Chinese mainland, will remain banned as mainland’s aviation regulator has severely limited the number of international flights due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus.
ALSO READ: 3 global air routes to Shanghai suspended due to virus cases
Cathay Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam said on Wednesday that opening mainland transit flights would improve its passenger volumes and that it could gear up at short notice to add flights.
He said one-third of Cathay’s passengers were transiting the airport at present for connecting flights, down from around 40 to 50 percent before the pandemic when mainland passengers were allowed to transit in both directions.
Cathay on Wednesday reported a record first-half loss of HK$9.87 billion (US$1.27 billion) and warned it did not expect a meaningful recovery in passenger demand for some time.
READ MORE: Cathay Pacific racks up record HK$9.8b loss for H1
Copyright 1995 - 2024. All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily. Without written authorization from China Daily, such content shall not be republished or used in any form.
CHINA DAILY HONG KONG NEWS |
OPEN |