Delays possible as runway at Hong Kong airport closed after cargo plane bursts tyre during emergency return

Delays possible as runway at Hong Kong airport closed after cargo plane bursts tyre during emergency return

Travellers using Hong Kong’s airport have been advised to check the latest flight information amid possible delays after a cargo plane burst a tyre when making an emergency return on Monday morning, leaving one of the airport’s two runways out of operation.

Travellers in the Hong Kong International Airport. Photo: GovHK.

“At about 7.30 am, a cargo plane that had to make an emergency return burst a tyre upon landing. The plane is now on the north runway, which is expected to be out of service for the next few hours,” an spokesperson from the Airport Authority said in a Chinese statement on Monday morning.

“The airport will operate on a single runway and flights scheduled in the morning are expected to be affected. Passengers are advised to refer to the latest flight information,” the spokesperson added.

As of 12.45 pm, flight tracking platform Flightradar24 showed a 66-minute average delay to departures. The airport had also scored a maximum 5.0 on the platform’s “disruption index,” indicating “major problems with long delays and several flights cancelled.”

Arrivals were less affected, with an average five-minute delay and a 0.5 on the disruption index.

The airport is in the process of transitioning to a three-runway system, after construction of a third runway was completed in 2022 at an estimated cost of HK$141.5 billion.

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