Hong Kong airport may suspend all flights for 36 hours as Ragasa approaches

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Hong Kong’s airport is considering suspending all flights for 36 hours starting Tuesday evening for the first time as Super Typhoon Ragasa moves towards the city, the Post has learned, with the weather forecaster saying it may issue the No 8 warning signal on Tuesday afternoon.

It is understood that the Hong Kong Airport Authority is looking into the drastic option of effectively shutting down the terminal from 6pm on Tuesday until 6am on Thursday amid “serious threats” posed by Ragasa, which is expected to bring hurricane-force winds with speeds of up to 220km/h (137mph) over the coming days.

The weather forecaster issued the No 1 typhoon signal at 12.20pm on Monday and said it would upgrade it to the No 3 signal at 9.40pm. It added that it would consider issuing the No 8 signal between 1pm and 4pm on Tuesday.

The Airport Authority said it would remain open during the storm but expected a huge number of flights would be affected, adding it would announce its contingency measure at 2pm.

But Australian carrier Qantas had once appeared to scoop up the reported grounding of flights in Hong Kong by informing passengers that the city’s airport would be closed from 6pm on Tuesday to 6am on Thursday. It subsequently revised the line, removing the reported closure and instead saying flights scheduled during the period “would be impacted”.