Hong Kong International Airport resumed domestic and international flight operations on Monday, Sept. 17 after Typhoon Mangkhut, the strongest typhoon to hit the city on record, wreaking havoc over the weekend.
The two runways at Hong Kong International Airport will remain open overnight on Monday and Tuesday to deal with thousands of rescheduled flights, which were delayed or ultimately canceled due to bad weather. Around 900 flights - 95 of which will be operated by Hong Kong Airlines - will be rescheduled Monday, Sept. 17 and a total of 2,000 within 48 hours.
"Usually the two runways take turns to be closed for maintenance at night," an Airport Authority spokesman said in a statement obtained by South China Morning Post. "But we will have both of them open for two nights to clear as much of the backlog as possible," the spokesman added.
The Airport Authority spokesman went on to say that after Monday, Sept. 17, everything should return to normal. He also encouraged passengers to confirm their flight departure time with their respective airlines first before heading to the Hong Kong International Airport.
This comes after thousands of passengers were left stranded as the Hong Kong International Airport canceled and delayed a total of 889 international flights on Sunday, Sept. 16 after Typhoon Mangkhut battered the city of Hong Kong for more than 10 hours with fierce winds and a record-breaking storm surge.
Since the said super typhoon starts moving away from Hong Kong, many of the stranded passengers looked for the soonest flights out of the city. One of which is Angel Armijos from South Africa who was visiting mainland China and Hong Kong with his wife.
According to Angel Armijos, he and his wife visited the Tian Tan Buddha in Ngong Ping, Lantau Island before going back to Shanghai. Upon their arrival, they were promptly advised not to go up further due to bad weather caused by Typhoon Mangkhut.
Angel Armijos and his wife, then, hurried to the Hong Kong International Airport - just to discover that their flight back to Shanghai, China had been canceled. They booked another flight to Shanghai, China on Monday afternoon but it was ultimately canceled as well.
"We were expecting to have a very nice trip here [in Hong Kong] for three days, but the typhoon changed all our plans," Angel Armijos told South China Morning Post. "And the airline is not helping us in the least," he added.
