[FormerBA]

Well BA have now cancelled their entire summer 22 schedule to HKG. It is very sad but on a strictly personal basis I am delighted.

I was able to reroute on Qatar Airways and will now spend 4 nights in Doha rather than HKG.

So, for me, finally some certainty but for HKG it is just awful

[Tom Otley]

From Bloomberg…

Hong Kong Will Open to Non-Residents in May as Covid Rules Ease

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GivingupBA, Polly

[cwoodward]

Finally a sensible decision !
I just hope that the huge damage caused by the over two year lock-down can be repaired -perhaps the re -opening is in the nick of time perhaps not.

Interestingly it was also announced earlier today that the new 3.5 km 3rd runway construction was completed and ready for operation

This further re the opening to non residence also:

From RTHK 10.30pm local

The government said on Friday that non-Hong Kong residents will be allowed to fly into the city from overseas once again from May 1, and it will also relax rules that lead to flight suspensions.

The administration said in a statement that the rules can be adjusted given the local Covid situation and the SAR’s ability to deal with infections, as well as the public’s expectation that socio-economic activities will resume.

To prevent the importation of Covid cases, non-residents will still have to follow other rules that apply to returning locals and will need to be vaccinated, have a negative test result before their flight, and undergo quarantine upon arrival.

The flight suspension mechanism will also be relaxed at the beginning of May.

Carriers will only be banned if they bring in five or more infected passengers – or five percent or more of the whole flight, whichever is higher – rather than just three passengers at present.

However, if any passenger is found to have failed to comply with boarding requirements, and there are three or more infections on the plane, the specific-route flight suspension will be triggered.

But the government has cut the suspension period from seven days to five.

The administration will also provide rapid antigen tests to inbound travellers, and those who test negative can be sent to their quarantine hotels without having to wait at the airport for PCR test results.

Prominent businessman Allan Zeman told RTHK it’s high time the territory re-opened its border.

“This is really a game changer because now Hong Kong finally rejoins the international world, and that will allow businesses to bring out their executives who many have not been in for three years because of the virus,” he said.

“I think that slowly the confidence in Hong Kong can start getting built up again by the international community.”

Zeman said the authorities are striking a balance between opening up the city and protecting it from Covid, and he hopes there will be further relaxation of curbs if everything goes smoothly.

Cathay Pacific welcomed the relaxation, calling it a positive step towards the gradual resumption of travel activities.
______________________________
Last updated: 2022-04-22 HKT 22:28

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TupeloKid, GivingupBA, Polly

[MartynSinclair]

The flight bans still make entering HKG a lottery…

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Polly, TimothyTanks

[AlanOrton1]

I’ve cut and pasted the below from the article Tom kindly shared:

‘Under the new rules, travelers will take a rapid Covid test at the airport, and those who are negative can head to a designated quarantine hotel for seven days.‘

Unless I’m reading this incorrectly I fail to see how this is good news for non HK residents (like me) who would very much like to visit HK again for work. I cannot justify being cooped up in hotel for a week, for a handful of days work related activity.

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Polly

[TominScotland]

Tom, when I saw this headline, I thought it was something to celebrate!!! Hardly that and, like AlanOrton1, I could never justify a week in quarantine just to visit a place that the rest of the world has probably forgotten about…..

[cwoodward]

As mentioned above no one wants to spend time in quarantine of course.
However that does not alter the fact that yesterdays news was a major step forward for Hong Kong.

On a positive note yesterdays announcement I understand was only an interim and first step towards fully opening up Hong Kong to international travellers and we can expect further relaxation within weeks if all progresses well.
As some may be aware we will shortly have a change of leadership here with the election of a new Chef Executive who is a 40 year police veteran though until recently briefly the number 2 man in government here. John Lee at times trained in the UK and is known as a competent steady pair of hands who is not frightened to make independent decisions.

To me yesterdays announcement has his fingerprints all over it.

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[stevescoots]

whilst i dont want to spend a week locked up, having done over 3 months during covid, its still too much of a lottery, add to that getting hotel rooms has been close to impossible for HK residents in the past so unless they expand the amount of hotels i dont see this making much of a change. but its a start i guess

[cwoodward]

The number of quarantine hotels available has been considerably expanded this week
Government PDF below
https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/pdf/designated-hotel-list-v7_en.pdf

This morning my team had no problem in finding a 5 star for one of our UK managers from 11 May

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TupeloKid, stevescoots, GivingupBA

[Tom Otley]

“Dear Mr Thomas Otley

With the recent announcement by the Hong Kong SAR government regarding the gradual resumption of travel from 1 May 2022, we are actively resuming more flights for our customers. We have added additional flights from London, Sydney and Manchester to our June schedule, with daily flights from London between 8-30 June.

Find out where we’re flying, including our latest additional flights….

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stevescoots, DavidGrodentz, CathayLoyalist2

[cwoodward]

In a further if small step towards opening up the government yesterday announced that it is reducing the quarantine for incoming flight crew to 3 days (from 7 days) and removing the quarantine requirement totally for incoming freighter crew,

Also several more hotels were added to the quarantine hotel list with rooms now totalling 16,500.
There are also several indications that the length of quarantine for incoming non-residence is likely to be reduced to 3 days with returning residence being able to do the quarantine in their own homes.

Should the above happen it will be the biggest step forward for over 2 years, be life saving for Cathay Pacific and be tantamount to announcing that Hong Kong is finally again open for business-and tourism.
Others that who know better than I suggest that this last step is still a few weeks away.

[cwoodward]

BA In their original announcements (see Bloomberg / BBC reports late 2021) the original reason given for cancelling Hong Kong flights was the length of time that crew needed to quarantine. Given that this has been reduced to 3 days it is perhaps possible that flights will be resumed earlier than end October.

[cwoodward]

Cathay announced today that it will recommence direct flights to Auckland from 1st June

[cwoodward]

Cathay Pacific is preparing for Hong Kong opening its borders in a few weeks, as is strongly predicted here to happen at the end of June.

In a very positive step the airline is seeking to hire and rehire several hundred cabin crew that were let go in 2020 at the height of the virus lockdown.
The rehiring of pilots is continuing and the training of cadet pilots restarted several weeks ago.

With 2 HKSAR government appointed temporary independent no-executive directors (appointed when the government loaned the airline several Billion at the height of the pandemic) in place it would seem to underscore that the reopening of HKs boarders is indeed imminent.

From 1st week June Cathay will recommence direct daily passenger flights to London and V V, increase and/or recommence flights to several Australian cities and also passenger flights to Auckland. Later in the month also Paris, San Francisco, Delhi and Mumbai.
The airlines low cost subsidiary HK Express will also recommence flights to several short haul destinations including to Singapore and Thailand.

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GivingupBA

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