DANNY LEEdanny.lee@scmp.com
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 25 October, 2015, 3:10am
UPDATED : Sunday, 25 October, 2015, 3:10am
The crowds build up at the airport. Photo: Josephine Ma
A shutdown of the Lantau Link lasting about two hours on Friday night stranded scores of passengers and airline crew on the wrong ends of their journeys and caused 91 flight delays, crippling Hong Kong International Airport - the world's leading aviation hub - for hours.
With the airport's only road and rail connections to the rest of Hong Kong severed during its busiest flight period, outbound planes were forced to remain on the tarmac for longer than scheduled while awaiting people stuck on the city side.
A Dragonair jet to Bangalore was the worst hit, taking off more than two hours after schedule.
The closure was imposed after a barge hit a bridge that was part of the Lantau Link.
The Airport Authority said 91 flights were delayed between 8pm on Friday and 2am yesterday, with the hardest hit being services to Europe and Australia.
About 40 flights were delayed for almost one hour or more.
In all, the aircraft were held back for 4,480 delay minutes, according to a Sunday Morning Postcalculation that defined a delay as a departure at least 15 minutes after schedule.
Dragonair flight 154 to Indian city Bangalore accrued 131 delay minutes. It was to have set off at 9.15pm, but eventually left at 11.36pm.
Hong Kong's airport operator defended its handling of the chaos. "The Airport Authority launched a series of emergency contingency procedures, such as activating the airport emergency centre, liaised with the government and airlines and alerted all community operation organisations about the possible need to activate contingency plans."
The body said it informed the media immediately after the start of the closure and made announcements at the airport terminals and on its website, asking passengers to check their flights. More employees were also deployed to offer help.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said fewer than 100 people missed their flights.
But thousands of arriving passengers landed to find there was no way to proceed further. Massive queues built up at taxi stands while buses joined traffic jams snaking beyond the toll plaza.
Despite the chaos tarnishing the city's reputation, however, the authority quietly urged people to vote for it as the best airport for 2015/16 in the Skytrax aviation consultancy survey.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1871793/theres-no-way-out-or-worlds-aviation-hub
