Airport operates smoothly under typhoon Wipha

Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) has maintained smooth operations under the impact of Typhoon Wipha, handling a total of about 1,500 flights on 20 and 21 July under the Flight Rescheduling Control System. The airport is expected to resume normal flight operations tomorrow. 

Passengers were advised to stay in the terminal for safety reasons when public transport was suspended under Typhoon Signal No 9 or above. Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) set up a temporary rest area for passengers, with 500 chairs, and mobile phone charging stations and other facilities. Additional staff deployed to assist passengers and AAHK’s Passenger Care Team distributed supplies such as bottled water, dry foodstuffs and blankets to passengers. A number of restaurants and convenience stores at HKIA continued to operate during the typhoon, with some opening 24 hours.

The airport activated the Queue Ticket System for taxis, issuing tickets to passengers so that they may wait indoors in the terminal for taxis. Altogether over 4,000 tickets were issued during the two days affected by typhoon. The system and taxi service operated smoothly throughout the typhoon period. The MTR Corporation also promptly resumed and added Airport Express Link services after Typhoon Signal was lowered from 9 to 8, transporting passengers to head to town.

Steven Yiu, Executive Director, Airport Operations of AAHK, said, “The airport faced great challenges as the storm hit us directly during the peak season of

summer travel. We activated the Airport Emergency Centre to facilitate coordination among various departments and organisations. HKIA was able to maintain smooth operations and quickly resume flight operations after the storm, demonstrating our efficiency, our response capabilities strengthened through multiple exercises, as well as the concerted effort of all stakeholders. I would like to extend my deep gratitude to the airlines, other members of the airport community and various government departments for working with us to get well prepared before the typhoon, and deployed extra manpower to assist passengers. I am also grateful to the MTR Corporation for increasing the Airport Express Link service, and the taxi associations for their help in boosting the supply of taxis.”

To ensure that the airport has sufficient staff to handle operations and serve passengers, AAHK provided two rest centers to accommodate about 400 staff.