Vivian Cheung Kar-fay, the Airport Authority’s performing CEO and chief working officer, stated on Monday that town’s new long-haul routes couldn’t fly over Russian airspace, following Moscow’s resolution to shut off its skies to numerous Western nations in 2022.
“Russia’s airline routes have continued to be a giant situation. Though native airways can nonetheless use the airspace for outdated airline routes, new routes can not fly over there.”
Western international locations introduced the closure of their respective airspaces to Russian plane following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Kremlin subsequently retaliated by limiting airways from 36 international locations in Europe and North America from flying over its skies.
Whereas Asian states have typically averted comparable sanctions, airways corresponding to Korean Air, All Nippon Airways and Singapore Airways have all voluntarily circumvented Russian airspace, with the transferring including as much as three extra hours to journey instances.
Cathay’s preliminary diversion prompted drastically inflated air ticket fares for a lot of locations, particularly flights to North America.
Some analysts stated many airways within the West most popular to function flights to high-demand areas slightly than routes with longer flight instances.
The Put up discovered on Monday {that a} Cathay Pacific return ticket to New York’s John F Kennedy Worldwide Airport ranged between HK$16,700 (US$2,100) and greater than HK$25,000.
An identical bundle between Hong Kong and Vancouver additionally prices wherever from HK$13,600 to HK$18,000.
Hong Kong can be making ready for the launch of its three-runaway system this yr, after finishing a HK$141.5 billion enlargement venture that began in 2016.
The runway, which spans 3.8km (2.3 mile), got here into service in 2022, whereas the second strip closed for upkeep. All three are anticipated to be operational by as early as November.
The 650-hectare (1,606-acre) enlargement venture will progressively enhance airport capability by 50 per cent, and is seen as key to the event of Hong Kong and southern mainland China.
The current terminal services on the airport are designed to deal with as much as 80 million passengers a yr.
Hong Kong airport dealt with 45.2 million passengers and 309,650 flight actions in 2023-24, respective will increase of 264.5 and 92.1 per cent year-on-year.
However passenger numbers have been solely 74.2 per cent of the 2019-20 stage, and plane actions stood at 82.2 per cent of the pre-Covid stage.
