Hong Kong Airport faced a significant system outage on Wednesday night that continued until Thursday morning. Several flights were delayed as a consequence, ranging from a few minutes up to an hour, and passengers were seen in long queues as the ground staff tried to manage with limited services.
Chaos
Hong Kong International Airport witnessed long queues on Wednesday midnight as ground staff struggled with the check-in process due to a computer system breakdown. The resultant delay in flight departure led to a crowd build-up inside the terminal building.
While the outage affected many airlines, the South China Morning Post reports that flag carrier Cathay Pacific was most affected, with at least 50 of its flights delayed. The problem started on Wednesday late at night, with reports saying that it began when authorities found glitches during regular testing and maintenance.
Airlines were subsequently informed about the outage, and passengers were then asked to move to the northern departure hall. It was only around 08:00 on Thursday morning that things showed signs of improving, and by 10:00 to 11:00, the congestion showed significant improvement.
Cathay Pacific did warn its customers about the outage and recommended reaching the airport early, which was, indeed, followed by many.
Critical systems
On a regular day, it’s hard to tell how much airport operations depend upon computer systems to function normally. But it usually takes a glitch to cause severe disruptions or, in some cases, bring everything to a standstill.
Just this year alone, there have been several outages at airports across the world, affecting flights and services. In February, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) reported a power outage that lasted for 50 minutes and affected all nine of the airport’s terminals.
Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying
On January 1st, a power outage in the Philippines affected multiple airports, causing malfunction of the air traffic control and resulting in the shutting of airspace over the Philippines. More than 280 local flights were delayed or diverted due to the disrupted airspace.
In December 2022, a server outage for a couple of hours at Mumbai Airport caused severe disruption, leading to serpentine queues. Passengers took to social media to post images and videos of the disruption caused by the internet outage. The terminal was crowded with people waiting to get their boarding passes as airlines did their best to move things as fast as possible.
Coming back to life
Hong Kong International Airport’s temporary disruption comes at a time when it is showing signs of recovery after the tough pandemic years. In 2020, the airport handled 8.84 million passengers and 160,665 flight movements – a massive reduction of 88% of its passenger volume in just twelve months.
Photo: Sorbis | Shutterstock
In December 2022, 1.6 million passengers passed through the airport, and in January, it witnessed around 2.1 million passengers passing through its terminals. At its peak in January, the airport handled around 80,000 passengers daily, about 40% of pre-pandemic levels.
This was primarily due to China relaxing its travel rules and the rush around the Chinese New Year. While there’s still time for Hong Kong to operate at its pre-pandemic capacity, it is good to see it gradually hosting more passengers. Those interested in finding out more about the airport’s recovery can read Simple Flying’s detailed report.
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Source: The South China Morning Post
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Hong Kong International Airport
- IATA/ICAO Code:
- HKG/VHHH
- Country:
- China (Special Administrative Region)
- CEO:
- Fred Lam
- Passenger Count :
- 1,196,000 (2021)
- Runways :
- 07R/25L – 3,800m (12,467ft) |07L/25R – 3,800m (12,467ft)
- Terminals:
- Terminal 1 |Terminal 2
