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East Asia

Hong Kong minister voices concern as Greater Bay Airlines axes 200 flights

A source said around 200 flights from January to March would be affected. 

Hong Kong minister voices concern as Greater Bay Airlines axes 200 flights

A Greater Bay Airlines aircraft is seen at Tokyo's Narita International Airport on Sep 18, 2023. (File photo: iStock)

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Hong Kong’s transport minister has expressed deep concern over flight cancellations by Greater Bay Airlines, with the carrier blaming the issue on delays in the delivery of newly ordered aircraft and the need to conduct inspections on existing planes.

A source said around 200 flights from January to March would be affected.

The airline, the smallest of the city’s carriers, apologised to affected passengers on Tuesday (Jan 21) and promised to allocate more staff to help them rebook or refund their tickets and waive all related fees.

The Transport and Logistics Bureau said its chief Mable Chan had reached out to senior executives of the airline to express her deep concern after being told about the cancellations.

“The bureau will arrange a meeting with airline representatives to understand the latest developments, and request they submit a report promptly and handle the situation with the primary goal of safeguarding passengers’ rights while providing a detailed explanation to affected passengers as soon as possible,” it said.

Chan also stressed that the smooth operation of Hong Kong airport depended on the cooperation of all carriers, especially local ones, and called on Greater Bay Airlines to present a comprehensive plan to lessen the impact on passengers.

The carrier said: “Due to delays in the delivery of newly ordered aircraft, and the need for some aircraft in our fleet to undergo scheduled safety inspections as required, (the airline had to) temporarily take them out of service and our overall flight schedule has been impacted.

“We have had to consolidate flights on certain routes, resulting in the cancellation of some flights. We sincerely apologise to all affected passengers.”

The company said it was “proactively” contacting affected passengers to rebook or refund their tickets and waive all related fees while allocating more staff to its customer service centre.

“We will seriously review the experience and relevant arrangements to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future,” the airline added.

Yuen Chun-ning, CEO of the WWPKG travel agency, said the company’s tour groups to Sendai in Japan were affected, with five scheduled for March cancelled.

“Fewer than 100 customers are involved. We will contact them to change travel dates or directly cancel them with full refunds,” he said.

Yuen said it was not the first time the city had seen a large number of flights being cancelled.

Cathay Pacific Airways cancelled almost 800 flights between December 2023 and February 2024 due to pilot illnesses and recruitment challenges.

Customers check in for the carrier’s maiden flight to Osaka at Hong Kong airport in 2023. (File photo: South China Morning Post/Xiaomei Chen)

Aviation analyst Li Hanming said he believed the cancellation of Greater Bay Airlines’ flights could be due to a major delay in Boeing’s aircraft delivery.

“The number of 737 (aircraft) delivered dropped from 580 in 2018 to 265 in 2024 – a 54 per cent loss,” said Li, who is also the founder of a transport consultancy which operates in the United States.

“Such a loss in production capacity definitely caused, is causing, and will cause, in the future, significant delay. Not only in Hong Kong, but elsewhere in China, Asia, or the world.”

In 2023, Greater Bay Airlines ordered 15 new 737 Max 9 aircraft and expected them to be delivered between 2025 and 2027.

Lawmaker Chan Pui-leung, who is also general manager of China Taiping Insurance (Hong Kong), said the incident was caused by the airline’s internal operations and therefore was not likely to be covered by insurance companies.

“Normally, travel insurance covers delays or change of plans caused by objective reasons, such as severe weather, shutdown of public transport facilities or staff putting on strikes,” he added.

A social media post revealed on Tuesday morning that a number of the carrier’s flights in February and March had been cancelled due to “change of flight schedules”.

The Facebook page “MeetHK.com” listed the cancellation of flights with destinations such as Japan’s Tokyo, Osaka, Yonago, Tokushima and Sendai, as well as Seoul in South Korea.

Most of the cancelled flights were to Seoul, for dates in the second half of February and the whole of March, according to the post.

A check by the Post on the airline’s website found no sign of some of the listed flights. Some flights on the dates mentioned in the post were labelled “sold out”.

The social media post drew nearly 1,000 comments as of 5pm on Tuesday, with most asking for an explanation and some complaining about the cancellations.

Gloria Liu, one of the commenters, said her flight to Seoul in February was cancelled and she was worried that one in March to Tokyo would be axed, too.

Another internet user, Peter Wong. said his flight was cancelled but he was lucky enough to get a good bargain from another airline.

This article was first published on SCMP.

Source: South China Morning Post/rl
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