Manually Running Airline Information

Here's what passengers look at for flight info at the airport

Hong Kong International Airport is having major issues with its real-time flight and baggage collection information. It's so bad it's hard to resort to handwriting the information on whiteboards. 

I kid you not.

The Airport Authority admitted the system "cannot be restored within a short period of time", and executive director Steven Yiu Siu-chung urged passengers to contact their airlines for flight details and budget enough time for check-in.

What is this? Back to the 1980s?

Staff member manually updates flight information

The massive computer glitch is the second major incident to hit the airport in a week after an emergency landing that caused a burst tire led to hundreds of flights being delayed.

Yiu said abnormalities in the computer system were discovered at 7am, and as a result real-time flight information could not be displayed in departure and arrival halls, and the authority's website.

"We commenced large-scale contingency measures after we confirmed that the system cannot be restored within a short period of time," he said.

While Yiu did not give an estimate on how much time would be needed to fix the problem, he stressed human error was not involved in the incident.

But many people missed their flights and blamed the airport authority for it.

One passenger surnamed Ng had a flight scheduled for 9.40am and entered the restricted area of the airport at 6am with no gate information on his boarding pass. However it wasn't until 10am when he found out where the gate was, and that he was one of six passengers who missed the flight.

"Airline staff told me it was the airport's fault. No one from the Airport Authority approached me with a solution, like how I will be compensated," Ng said, adding he did not know if he should book another flight or go back to Macau to fly from there.

"I am disappointed with Hong Kong International Airport. How can their risk management be qualified to tell good Hong Kong stories?"

Indeed. How can the HKIA not even have a backup system in 2024?

How Hong Kong's Airport Capacity Stacks Against Other Cities

Hong Kong is struggling to increase its airport capacity

See this chart? It tracks the capacity of several international airports in seeing if they are back to 100 percent capacity post-pandemic.

You can see Singapore Changi Airport represented by a black line on the graph and it has already broken through the 100 percent mark along with London Heathrow in yellow.

New York's John F Kennedy International Airport (green line) was well over 100 percent in November, but declining slightly at the moment, while Incheon Airport in Seoul is at 99.9 percent (pink line).

Haneda Airport in Tokyo? Well it hit 100 percent last May and was already at 110 percent in mid September.

Where's Hong Kong International Airport (blue)?

In December it reached a high of around 75 percent, but it has since plunged in January (no figures yet for February). 

This is what happens when there is a clear road map out of the pandemic by reopening faster. Around Christmastime the airline was short 500 pilots to fly Cathay Pacific planes and that resulted in numerous cancellations which left a bad impression with passengers, new and loyal.

While Cathay recently announced a HK$9.78 billion (US$1.3 billion) net profit last year, it doesn't believe it will return to 2019 capacity levels until 2025, and so HKIA's blue line on the graph won't be hitting 100 percent anytime soon...

It's Been a Year...

Miss this amazing view and walk along the harbourfront

In a few days it will be exactly a year since I had my last gourmet meal at Salisterra in the Upper House, a special treat from a good friend, who then escorted me to Hong Kong International Airport. I hugged him and an ex-colleague, thanking them for all their help, and entered the security line, then used my HKID to leave one last time.

The first leg of my trip was to Singapore and then a 10-hour layover (overnight) before flying to Vancouver.

A practically empty airport last April

My almost two years of planning for this exit came to fruition, and then what?

It's been quite the transition, from cleaning out my room to make room for my Hong Kong stuff, trying to get my driver's license sorted (it was a tedious ordeal), still having yet to find a family doctor like every other person in Canada, and reaching out to friends who were still traumatised by Covid.

All the while I have been watching what's been happening to Hong Kong on social media, feeling FOMO missing out on fabulous dinners and events I used to attend, but also feeling sad at watching the city I love being emptied out by migration or prosecution, while the authorities are claiming everything is fine.

I miss the 10K walks I did almost every evening from Kennedy Town to Wan Chai and back, the good friends I made over the years, the contacts I had built up over the years who trusted me to tell their stories, and the amazing food I ate, from hole-in-the-wall noodle shops to decadent Michelin-starred dining.

When I watch people's videos of Hong Kong streets on social media, I can imagine myself when I was there. 

Pureed potatoes with a giant dollop of caviar

Perhaps watching these videos and looking at people's pictures makes it harder to adjust to Vancouver? When I watched the documentary film, Revolution of Our Times, it immediately took me back to the 2019 protests, the massive turnout of people in the initial marches in June, and then after the July 1 march seeing videos of protesters with make-shift tools to barge their way into the Legislative Council.

It reminded me of spending my evenings scrolling through Twitter to see what was happening in the front lines and the next morning furrowing my brow at the government's response. I furrowed my brow everyday which has left a permanent wrinkle on my face.

"One country, two systems" came to a head, and Beijing decided something had to give, and it was two systems into one, as signalled by the implementation of the national security law at midnight, July 1, 2020.

Since then Hong Kong has irrevocably changed, from media organisations shuttering and civil society groups disbanding, to activists, lawyers and lawmakers fleeing abroad or risking arrest. Those left behind are currently behind bars, the vast majority remanded in custody. 

Protest scene from Revolution of Our Times

The likes of Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and Joshua Wong Chi-fung have been silenced, the media only able to report what has happened to them in the legal system and not what they have said.

Rationally I know I did the right thing, but emotionally it's hard to reconcile.

Because of Covid it took me a while to reach out to people I know here. Some are still terrified to meet or aren't as interested in meeting up. Luckily I have wonderful relatives who are more than happy to meet, including one cute little puppy.

However I can't lie -- I miss the warm weather, the convenience of public transport and the ability to go out late at night by myself and not be worried about my safety. The increased random attacks in Vancouver on buses and trains and even on sidewalks is very scary, which makes me wonder why things have gone so downhill in the city.

But then I am reminded of the rights and freedoms I have here, and am definitely not going to take them for granted.

Raining with Memories

Do you remember walking down the ramp at Kai Tak Airport?

Soon after President Xi Jinping left Hong Kong, typhoon Chaba gathered strength and the Hong Kong Observatory declared it was T3 and soon T8.

A friend lamented it was too bad the typhoon arrived 24 hours late...

The artist wants to create nostalgia around Kai Tak

Nevertheless it seemed like an ominous sign, much like 25 years earlier.

That's what I remember most about the handover -- it was dumping with rain outside. Many felt it was not a good sign of what was to come.

The typhoon's gale force winds also disrupted flights in and out of Hong Kong International Airport, which is probably another sign that the typhoon really is that bad.

Speaking of airports and anniversaries, Hong Kong artist Christopher K Ho has created an installation in Vancouver to remember Kai Tak Airport before it closed in 1998.

Next to the Shangri-La hotel is a large art installation that is somewhat reminiscent of the ramp that passengers walked down to greet loved ones waiting for them in the arrival hall.

Even floor tiles are reminiscent of the arrivals hall

It was such a cramped space, but the ramp gave people an opportunity to spot their friends and family and rush over to them on the ramp before helping them push their luggage carts down and towards the taxi stand.

Remember those days?

It was such a chaotic scene that one of the first few times we arrived in Hong Kong it was quite scary seeing so many people staring at you!

Ho calls this work CX889, the Cathay Pacific flight number from Hong Kong to Vancouver. In addition to the ramp there's a tall clock (that doesn't work), as well as a lone baggage cart secured in place. 

Ho even replicates the tiles that are at the end of the ramp, with the words "Please don't...", asking bystanders to not crowd in that space.

There is water collected on the floor, making me wonder if it was deliberate or from the previous days of rain that created this giant puddle of reflection.

Does it bring up nostalgic feelings? You have to be of a certain age to remember it, in other words older than 24 years old to remember what Kai Tak's arrival hall looked like.

A lone luggage cart stands by the ramp

Now Kai Tak is a giant construction site, with some super tall residential buildings completed, others being built and lots of empty land around too. Some Chinese developers ran out of money and had to sell at a much cheaper price than what they had paid for it.

More infrastructure, particularly public transport needs to be sorted as well as shops, supermarkets and so on before people might be interested in living in the area. 

It's funny how Hong Kong changes so much, but people's memories are a constant.

CX889

Christopher K Ho

Offsite

1100 West Georgia Street

Vancouver

Now until October 16, 2022

Forewarning of John Lee's Reign

Lam met with Lee today before holding joint press conference

Today incumbent Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor met with her successor John Lee Ka-chiu and then they held a joint press conference, but no questions were allowed to be asked.

He made a statement saying he will work on developing Hong Kong's economy, but how if the border to the mainland remains pretty much shut, and the city's own quarantine regulations have deterred airlines from resuming their flights at Hong Kong International Airport.

How Lee is going to rejuvenate the city's economy remains a complete mystery as he only mentioned it in his platform with no detailed plans, and no other candidates running against him to challenge him.

Chung says Beijing has picked incapable leader

Perhaps even worse is that Hong Kong's next leader is not really qualified to even lead the city, according to Chung Kim-wah, the former deputy head of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute. 

"Lee has no experience in all the most important policy areas, such as economy, finance and foreign trade, or fields such as social welfare, housing, education, healthcare and labour. He has only been a cop," Chung said. "My fear is that under his rule, things will go wrong in every aspect of Hong Kong.

"Choosing Lee has chief executive shows Beijing doesn't mind picking a completely incapable person to do nothing but carry out its will," Chung added.

Ouch.

This morning's pro-Beijing newspapers harped on how Lee garnered 99 percent of the vote (not hard when you're the only candidate), but also it he was he who vetted every person in the almost 1,500-member Election Committee.

Ads praising Lee as the next HK leader

The same papers also had pages and pages of advertisements congratulating Lee on becoming the next Chief Executive. Some of the companies included Cathay Pacific, Swire, Jardine Matheson, KPMG, Deloitte, and PwC. Surely it was perhaps the best day in the past two years for the newspapers' advertising departments.

Another devastating assessment is from Chris Fraser, the former chair of the philosophy department at the University of Hong Kong. He described the election as "merely an elaborate public confirmation ceremony for a preordained appointee."

"To the millions who marched in the streets in 2019, the whole charade is little more than another waste of taxpayer money on a pointless ceremony demonstrating that the Hong Kong government will never be accountable to its own citizens," said Fraser, who is now at the University of Toronto.

All eyes are on Lee, who has given the appearance of jumping straight into work, with already an office and staff.