The Hong Kong Airport Authority announced today at about 3:50 p.m. HKT on August 12.

Due to a public gathering at the airport, the passenger terminal was extremely overcrowded, airport operations were severely impacted, traffic to the airport was very congested, and all parking bays were full. All flights today were canceled except for outbound flights that had already completed boarding and inbound flights currently arriving in Hong Kong.

The Airport Authority also announced that it would reallocate flights tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. At that time, operations are expected to gradually return to normal. Passengers are advised to monitor the latest departure times from the airlines.

For all airlines with affected flights, regardless of whether they are low-cost carriers, the airlines have a free change/refund/rebooking policy for affected passengers. We recommend calling the ticket issuer or the operating airline’s customer service hotline. If you are at the airport, you can also visit the operating airline’s rebooking/rebooking desk. Under general carriage conditions, the operating airline is required to provide rebooking for passengers on disrupted flights, regardless of where the ticket was purchased and regardless of whether the ticket is code-shared. Refunds, however, must be handled by the issuing party (if purchased directly from an airline, contact the airline; if purchased through Expedia, Qunar, or other unofficial third-party OTAs, contact those OTA channels).

Before calling, you can first check online whether the same airline or the same alliance has alternative routing, such as connecting through another city. If you are departing from Hong Kong or your destination is Hong Kong, you can also consider changing the departure or destination to Guangzhou or Shenzhen. Some airlines allow free changes.

Given that recent developments in Hong Kong have also spread to air travel and all types of surface transport, if you have recently booked a trip that requires a transfer or is going to Hong Kong, even if it is not directly affected by this incident, you may also ask the airline to rebook through another airport. Because this may not be covered under the standard change/refund policy, you may need to request assistance from a higher-level customer service representative.

If you are unable to change your itinerary or are already in Hong Kong, allow extra time when traveling to the airport. You may also consider going directly between the Mainland and Hong Kong International Airport from Hai Tian Passenger Ferry Terminal, as the route is fully within the control zone and is less likely to be affected by protest activity.

Please remain safe while traveling.