Travellers stranded at Hong Kong airport as at least 27 Middle East flights disrupted
Passengers pack city’s airport to inquire about suspended departures to Riyadh, Doha and Qatar as US-Israeli attack on Iran forces airspace closures
A joint US-Israeli attack on Iran forced airlines to cancel or delay at least 27 flights from Hong Kong to destinations in the Middle East on Sunday, leaving travellers stranded at the city’s airport.
Luo Kui, a 45-year-old Shanghai software architect, was stranded overnight in Hong Kong after his Cathay Pacific flight to Dubai, scheduled at 5pm on Saturday, was cancelled.
On Sunday morning, the airline gave him two options: he could either keep his connecting flight to Dubai – tentatively rescheduled for March 4 – but pay for his own accommodation until departure, or change his ticket and return to Shanghai.
“This isn’t fair,” Luo, who has worked in Abu Dhabi for two years, told the South China Morning Post.