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Hong Kong denies the special administrative region’s zero-COVID strategy is eroding its aviation hub status
April 8th 2022
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) chief executive, Carrie Lam, has defended the HKSAR’s status as an aviation hub after pointed criticism of the government's travel restrictions by International Air Transport Association (IATA) director general, Willie Walsh. Read More » Under the HKSAR government's circuit breaker policy, airlines are banned from operating a particular route for seven days if a certain number of passengers tested positive to COVID-19 on arrival. "What we now discover, since April 1, probably because of the very relaxed approach adopted in many places, is that some flights have brought in three or more cases upon arrival," Lam told reporters. "There is no doubt Hong Kong is a very important aviation hub." Earlier, Walsh told reporters Hong Kong will lag significantly behind the recovery other markets are experiencing. "I think Hong Kong has become increasingly isolated,” Walsh said, and added the HKSAR had fallen "off the map" as an aviation hub.
