Journeys from Hong Kong to Beijing, Singapore, Shanghai, Taipei and Tokyo are now at least 30 minutes slower than at the turn of the millennium
DANNY.LEE@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 20 December, 2015, 1:29am
UPDATED : Sunday, 20 December, 2015, 11:49am
Cathay Pacific cited ground and air traffic congestion on top of the mainland air traffic delays as a growing problem. Photo: Reuters
Flight times from Hong Kong to major cities around the region have become longer over the last two decades as airlines become increasingly creative with punctuality as they attempt to mitigate airport and air traffic delays.
Research by the Sunday Morning Post analysing thousands of flight times from Hong Kong to Beijing, Singapore, Shanghai, Taipei and Tokyo show journeys are at least 30 minutes slower than at the turn of the millennium.
Affected by congestion and air traffic restrictions, flights to Beijing have deteriorated to such an extent that flights take up to an hour and 15 minutes longer today than in 1999.
Similarly, the longest flying time to Narita airport accounted for less than 1 per cent of flights in 1999, but now account for half. Timings for Taipei-bound flights are also increasingly markedly.
Mark Clarkson, business development director at OAG Aviation, said Hong Kong airport was a “perfect example” of how flight times in busy airspace or congested airports have lengthened.
Hong Kong is handling 33 per cent more frequencies [flights] since 2008, which Clarkson described as “a dramatic jump”.
“Unfortunately, this general increase in sector times has not been reflected in improved on-time performance at Hong Kong,” he said.
“Something has to give. In pure capacity terms, a third runway can’t come soon enough.”
Hong Kong Airlines (HX) flight 312 to Beijing is scheduled to take 4 hours 25 minutes. Comparably, Cathay Pacific and sister airline Dragonair’s longest flight is scheduled 3 hours and 20 minutes. However, HX 336, a morning flight, is scheduled to fly to Beijing in just 2 hours 40 minutes.
Hong Kong Airlines said it took a proactive approach to mitigating disruption for passengers in light of airspace congestion and increasing air traffic control delays in the mainland.
“We have tried to add more time to the schedules of the related flights. This allows more flexibility for our passengers to plan for their agenda on the travel day,” a spokeswoman said.
Cathay Pacific cited ground and air traffic congestion on top of the mainland air traffic delays as a growing problem. “Congestion at our home airport and elsewhere has become more serious ... which is beyond airlines’ control.”
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1893465/hong-kong-air-travellers-enduring-longer-flight-times
