Coronavirus: HK airport authority to buy 500,000 air tickets to inject cash directly into ailing airlines

The government will buy 500,000 flight tickets directly from the city’s airlines as part of a stimulus worth billions of Hong Kong dollars to the crippled aviation sector. In the biggest package of financial support for the industry to date, firms will also be able to tap into the government’s new scheme that subsidises monthly pay packets by up to HK$9,000 under a wider US$18b package to shield Hongkongers from the devastating economic impact of Covid-19. “We recognise some sectors are particularly hard hit,” CE Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said Wednesday, naming aviation among those. “Hong Kong International Airport is almost closed.” Hong Kong’s leader said she was saddened that passenger traffic had collapsed and acknowledged the “severity of the situation” faced by 75,000 employees in the airport community. The Airport Authority Hong Kong, which runs HKIA, will fund a HK$2b purchase scheme for half a million air tickets, as well as buying back airport services equipment, bringing the total package of AAHK support to HK$4.6b.<br/>