One-way flights out of Hong Kong fuel 300% surge in bookings

Demand for flights leaving Hong Kong is up as much as 306% on the same time last year as residents pack their bags amid on-and-off talk of mass Covid testing and lockdowns. ForwardKeys, a Valencia, Spain-based travel data company, has observed a “steep rise” in outbound bookings from Jan. 4 to Mar. 7, with Singapore and Shanghai the most popular cities, according to data provided to Bloomberg. The period starting Feb 8. saw the biggest jump in bookings, a time when Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam was flagging ever tighter Covid restrictions. Public gatherings were limited to two from four, hair salons were closed and stricter vaccine checks were required in shopping malls and supermarkets. Talks of mass lockdowns had also started to swirl early last month. “People’s motivation is more to escape from a surge in Covid as more than 70% of travelers booked one-way tickets, increasing from only 26% pre-pandemic,” said Olivier Ponti, ForwardKeys’ vice president of insights. For the seven days commencing March 1, weekly bookings were up 113% year-on-year but still down 84% on pre-pandemic levels—underscoring how far away a recovery in air travel is for Hong Kong. Singapore is the most easily accessible destination to vaccinated Hong Kong residents, while Shanghai is only open to Chinese citizens. After a net record outflow of 71,354 people left Hong Kong in February, the exodus has continued this month as measured by official immigration border control data, although at a more muted rate. The net number of people leaving the Asian financial hub fell 20% last week. While Shanghai is popular, flights there are now swiftly being curtailed by authorities after a spike in infections.<br/>ity.<br/>