Cathay Pacific Airways expects to suspend Hong Kong flights from Friday afternoon through Saturday morning as Super Typhoon Saola nears the Asian financial hub, according to a person familiar with the situation. 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 3.40 p.m. on Thursday and may elevate the alert by one level on Friday to No. 8 — the threshold at which schools close and most public transportation 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. Cathay expects significant disruptions from the storm and is working to keep aircraft out of the city for a period of time. Airport Authority Hong Kong, which operates HKIA, said it would make an announcement later Thursday.<br/>
oneworld
Qantas cancelled flights to retain takeoff and landing slots at Sydney airport, among a raft of other reasons that were “within its control”, an in-depth investigation conducted by Australia’s competition watchdog has alleged. The allegation levelled by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, bolsters claims from critics that Qantas and its budget carrier Jetstar have been strategically scheduling then cancelling domestic flights out of Sydney airport to prevent competitors from introducing rival services. The ACCC’s allegation, determined through an investigation into Qantas flight cancellations between May and July 2022, stands in stark contrast to denials of so-called “slot hoarding” by the airline’s executives before two separate parliamentary committee hearings this week. On Tuesday, Qantas’s general counsel, Andrew Finch, said “we completely reject these assertions which are broadcast without a skerrick of evidence”. Announcing the results of the ACCC investigation on Thursday, Cass-Gottlieb said: “We allege that Qantas made many of these cancellations for reasons that were within its control, such as network optimisation including in response to shifts in consumer demand, route withdrawals or retention of takeoff and landing slots at certain airports.” The investigation – which saw Qantas serviced with compulsory information notices – also found the national carrier was advertising and selling tickets for more than 8,000 flights that it had already cancelled in its system during the three-month period in mid-2022. The ACCC is taking legal action against Qantas for its conduct after deciding to cancel the flights, but those alleged breaches do not relate to improper cancellation of flights.<br/>
Qantas will scrap its 31 December deadline for refunds on COVID-19 flight credits after sustained criticism. Qantas customers who hold credits for flights up to October 2021 which were cancelled due to lockdowns will be able to claim a cash refund with no time limit, while Jetstar customers will be able to use their credits for flights indefinitely. As an incentive for customers to use their credits for flights rather than refunding them, starting on 4 September, the national carrier will offer double the Frequent Flyer points on flights booked with Qantas COVID-19 credits. This will last until the previous expiry date of 31 December, after which customers will only be able to access refunds rather than booking flights with unused credits. “We’re doing this because we’ve listened. We know the credit system was not as smooth as it should have been, and, while we’ve improved it recently, and extended the expiry date several times, people lost faith in the process,” said CEO Alan Joyce in a video message to customers. “We hope this helps change that. We also hope that a lot of people still choose to put their credit towards their next journey.” The reports follow a fiery Senate committee hearing on Monday in which ALP Senator Tony Sheldon, a long-time critic of Qantas, berated CEO Alan Joyce, Jetstar CEO Stephanie Tully, and Qantas head of corporate affairs Andrew McGinnes over the credits system, with revelations that Jetstar was also holding around $100m in credits above the approximately $370m from Qantas flights. “We are here asking questions about substantial sums of money that is owed to the Australian public overseas and through the Jetstar operations, that have not been paid. You have put an arbitrary deadline of December this year when people lose that money and the money stays in the pockets of Qantas and Jetstar,” Sheldon said.<br/>