Cathay on Monday said the move came as the Japanese government continued to limit the number of flights carriers could operate from Hong Kong to Japan.
“As a result, we can only operate 72 flights per week into Japan, which is 12 to 13 flights per week less than what was originally planned and approved by the regulatory authorities for February,” the airline said.
Passengers heading to Nagoya would go to Osaka instead, according to Cathay Pacific.
Budget carrier HK Express revealed that the latest flight limit from Japanese authorities had cut the number of approved flights from 89 per week in February to 74, causing the cancellation of 60 flights to Okinawa, Osaka and both airports in Tokyo from February 17 to March 2.
Tour operators in Hong Kong reported minimal disruption to their clients and business, but warned more flights to Japan could be cancelled in two weeks for trips through March.
Yuen Chun-ning, executive director of travel agency WWPKG, said about 100 clients had been affected by the latest round of cuts, adding that operators had been expecting fortnightly cancellations since the country imposed restrictions on flights from the city in December.
“If the Japanese government doesn’t unwind their current practice, another round of cuts will be announced every two weeks. This is in line with their policy since the end of December,” Yuen said.
Yuen added that he had advised his clients to avoid high-risk flights to avoid cancellations, but acknowledged that it was difficult for the average traveller to identify which flights faced a higher likelihood of being cut.
Tour operator Steve Huen Kwok-chuen, executive director of EGL Tours, also said he believed more cuts could be announced, adding that the flight limits were imposed due to insufficient manpower at Japanese airports.
“It’s not just Japan that’s lacking manpower,” Huen said. “Many tourism workers across the world who left the industry have not returned. I would not exclude the possibility of more cuts being announced every two weeks.”
While the impact of the flight cancellations on the travel agencies has been minimal, travellers whose trips were axed said they had to deal with additional costs that reached thousands of dollars, as well as long wait times and a lack of response from airlines.
Astrid Cheng, a clerk in her thirties, whose HK Express flight to Tokyo on February 18 was cancelled, said she could lose money as she had already booked hotels and restaurants.
“If I can’t make the trip, that would lead to a loss of HK$15,000 [US$1,915] per head. If I can cancel some hotel bookings, my losses would amount to about HK$10,000 per person,” she said.
After waiting for three hours, Cheng managed to book a departure flight a day earlier than her original travel date, reducing her losses to about HK$1,000.
“I now have to pay for one more night of accommodation and take another day of leave,” she said.
But for other travellers, the fate of their trip hung in the balance as they waited for their airline’s response.
A traveller who only gave her surname as Leung said she paid HK$9,000 for a new ticket to Osaka while waiting for a refund from HK Express.
“I bought another ticket while waiting for a refund because I have to go on my trip, no matter what since I’ve already booked everything from hotels to Universal Studio tickets,” Leung said.
Japan imposed restrictions on flights from the city in December last year, even though it had scrapped a policy limiting arrivals from Hong Kong, mainland China and Macau to certain airports, only 10 days after introducing it.
Transport minister Lam Sai-hung last week said the government understood the restrictions would be lifted next month, and airlines would strive to increase the number of flights.
The Japanese consulate in Hong Kong reiterated that it had asked airlines to limit the number of flights from the city, the mainland and Macau due to the country’s quarantine capacity.
Japan became one of the first countries to impose China-specific travel restrictions last month as infections surged across the mainland following the dismantling of Beijing’s zero-Covid strategy. Some of the measures affected Hong Kong as well.
Beijing suspended the issuance of visas for Japanese visitors on January 10 in retaliation for Chinese nationals being required to present a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test before departure and on arrival.
But the measure was scrapped on Sunday after the Japanese embassy in Beijing resumed its visa services in China last week.
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