BREAKING NEWS: Hong Kong Airport Shutdown

Pictured: protestors occupy Hong Kong aiport; Photo: a still taken from video taken Twitter user @Alex in Air #HongKong

All flights into and out of Hong Kong have been shut down by the Hong Kong Airport Authority owing to the occupation of the airport by protestors.

"Airport operations at Hong Kong International Airport have been seriously disrupted, all flights have been cancelled. All passengers are advised to leave the terminal buildings as soon as possible," a statement from the Airport Authority said. The statement was published at 16:50 local time (04:50 a.m. U.S. Eastern Daylight Time; 01:50 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time).

Airlines are advising against non-essential travel today and tomorrow.

"Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon have been informed by the Hong Kong International Airport Authority that all departing flights are cancelled today, Monday 12 August, effective immediately. The cancellation period will extend until the morning of tomorrow, Tuesday 13 August. This is as a result of the public assembly taking place at Hong Kong International Airport. Customers are therefore advised to postpone non-essential travel both today (12 August) and tomorrow (13 August) and should not proceed to the airport. Additionally, In-town Check-in services have been suspended," a statement from Cathay Pacific reads.

Only flights that have already completed check-in or are already en-route and close to Hong Kong will be allowed to use the airport.

Local media are reporting that flights have been seriously disrupted. Australian reporters present in Hong Kong airport have been reporting that many thousands of protestors have been arriving in the airport and have been occupying both the arrivals and departures halls.

In 2018, Hong Kong handled 5.12 million metric tonnes of cargo. The airport saw 1.82 million metric tonnes of cargo unloaded last year. About 3.3 million tonnes of cargo were loaded at Hong Kong last year. There were 58,000 cargo-related air traffic movements in 2018.

Image Sourced from Pixabay