Hong Kong’s Cathay apologises after passengers get stuck on board without air con

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways apologised to passengers twice on Thursday after an aircraft experienced two separate technical issues on the same day, one of which forced passengers to sit on board the plane without air conditioning, causing significant delays to two destinations.

Cathay Pacific said on Thursday night that flight CX705 was originally scheduled to depart from Hong Kong at 8am, but was delayed as a result of a technical issue that occurred during boarding and affected the cabin’s air conditioning.

It later responded to the Post’s enquiry, stating that the aircraft was then deployed on its flight to Kaohsiung, CX458, which was scheduled to depart from Hong Kong at 4.35pm. However, the airline said the flight experienced a different technical issue than the one in the morning and passengers were transferred to another aircraft.

“The aircraft involved had experienced a separate technical issue unrelated to CX705, which was resolved prior to its operation of CX458,” Cathay said.

“The safety of our customers and crew guides every decision we make. We sincerely apologise to our affected customers for the inconvenience and appreciate their understanding.”

The airline earlier apologised to the passengers of the Bangkok flight.

Cathay arranged replacement planes for both destinations. The flight to Bangkok was delayed for almost three hours to 10.48am, while the Kaohsiung-bound flight departed Hong Kong 4.5 hours behind schedule at 9.16pm.