HK airport to close concourse as flights plummet

Hong Kong, Feb 21 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) is preparing to consolidate all flights into the main terminal building, and close a newer concourse that sits between the two runways, as passenger flights into and out of the city have dropped by two-thirds, sources said on Friday.

The Airport Authority will seek to temporarily close the building, known as the midfield concourse, though no final decision has been reached as discussions with affected stakeholders, such as retailers, were ongoing, the South China Morning Post quoted the sources as saying.

But many key facilities have already started relocating services into the main terminal building.

Located in the middle of the airport, the futuristic, rectangular building, connected by 20 jet bridges, opened in 2015 at a cost of HK$10 billion to cater for the surging demand for flights around the region.

About half of the facility is now being used to park idle jets.

The daily number of passenger flights flying in and out of Hong Kong has dropped from 1,050 to around 340, with more flight cuts expected in the coming weeks.

On Wednesday, HKIA handled 160 departing passenger flights, possibly the lowest since the 2003 outbreak of Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), when air travel in and out of Hong Kong all but stopped.

Last week, airport officials in Hong Kong closed a smaller terminal annex, the north satellite concourse, which has space for eight narrowbody jets, as the Cathay Pacific Group cuts to its capacity by 30 per cent up to the end of March, reports the South China Morning Post.

Air travel has dwindled amid growing fears over the deadly coronavirus.

A number of countries have restricted or outright banned entry for people who have recently been to mainland China - and in some cases also Hong Kong - including the US, Singapore, Australia and the Philippines.

Source: IANS