Hong Kong aviation hub recovery to take ‘considerable time’, airlines still reluctant to return to city over unpredictable Covid-19 curbs, head of IATA warns

It will take “considerable time” for Hong Kong to recover its aviation hub status, as foreign airlines are reluctant to return to the city given its unpredictable Covid-19 travel restrictions, the head of a global airline association has warned. The DG of the IATA, Willie Walsh, on Tuesday also said mainland China remaining closed off to the rest of the world with its travel restrictions and the closure of Russian airspace would impact overall recovery for the industry next year. “The recovery of Hong Kong as a global hub will take considerable time,” Walsh told media in Geneva at IATA’s headquarters, adding that other aviation hubs were “without question” benefiting from the city’s travel curbs. Walsh said restoring confidence in Hong Kong as an aviation hub was not just about easing travel restrictions in the city, but also airlines having assurances that curbs would not be reintroduced, saying carriers had become “fed up with changing regulations” at short notice and they no longer wanted to “take that risk”. “So we will need to see greater stability before we can talk seriously about the recovery of Hong Kong as a hub. The damage to the status of Hong Kong as a hub has been very significant,” Walsh said.<br/>“As we continue to look at the recovery and as airlines put more capacity back, I think there will be a greater sensitivity to those markets that are unpredictable.” Singapore Changi Airport overtook Hong Kong as the top airport in the region, with 3.6m passengers passing through in October, while Hong Kong airport handled just 755,000 passengers in the same month – just 13% of pre-pandemic levels. <br/>