HONG KONG: Cathay Pacific Airways has cancelled all flights to and from Hong Kong from Friday afternoon through Saturday morning as Super Typhoon Saola nears the city.
The airline announced late Thursday that flights arriving in and departing from Hong Kong between 2pm on Friday and 10am on Saturday would be affected.
Cathay said it was waiving refund, rebooking and rerouting charges ahead of the super typhoon to encourage passengers to reschedule travel planned for Sept 1 and Sept 2. It said tickets issued by Thursday would need to be changed by Sept 2 and would be authorised for travel through the end of the month.
Saola has the potential to be the strongest typhoon to hit Hong Kong since Mangkhut battered the city five years ago. The storm earlier caused more than 69,000 people in the Philippines to evacuate and led to more than a dozen flight cancellations in Taiwan.
The local weather agency raised the storm signal to No.3, the second lowest level, at 3.40pm on Thursday and may elevate the alert by one level on Friday to No.8 — the threshold at which schools close and most public transport is stopped.
Cathay and its sister budget carrier HK Express account for about half of all flights in and out of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). Cathay expects significant disruptions from the storm and is working to keep aircraft out of the city for a period of time, according to information seen by Bloomberg News.
Authorities in Hong Kong also plan to shut schools — kindergarten to secondary schools — on Friday, the local broadcaster TVB reported.