The troubled situation in Hong Kong is clearly visible in visitor statistics. According to the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Authority, the number of flights to the city decreased by 6 percent and the number of passengers by 13 percent in October.
Several major Asian airlines have already reduced their flights, including Garuda, which has reduced its weekly flights from 21 to four. Air Asia and Spice Jet have completely suspended flights from Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu and Mumbai, respectively, into December/January.
Local airline Cathay Pacific has said the unrest is causing "uncertainty and challenges" to its business outlook and has cut capacity and postponed deliveries of four aircraft, Reuters reports.
SAS has also reduced the number of flights to Hong Kong, which reduces the number of flights to and from Copenhagen from five to four.
”"We have noticed lower demand, especially from leisure travelers, and therefore saw reason to adjust our scheduled traffic," SAS press manager Freja Annamatz tells TT.
Canceling more flights is not an option at the moment, but SAS is closely monitoring developments:
”"It will look a little different during the Christmas and New Year holidays, but at the moment we see no reason to reduce the number of flights further," says Freja Annamatz.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not issued a travel recommendation for Hong Kong, but the Swedish Embassy warns that unrest in Hong Kong has escalated.
”"Violent clashes have taken place, especially around the universities. We are currently urging Swedish citizens to particularly avoid the area around the Polytechnic University," the embassy writes on its website.
It also says:
”"We therefore recommend, as before, all Swedish citizens to exercise great caution and we direct this call especially to Swedish exchange students at universities in Hong Kong."”
The unrest has weighed on the economy of what is normally one of the largest financial centers in Asia. Hong Kong has been in recession since the third quarter of this year, with the economy shrinking by 3.2 percent in the July-September period.
Source: di.se
