Finnair Says Cancels, Delays Flights To Hong Kong As Airport Disrupted By Protests

HELSINKI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th August, 2019) Finland's largest air carrier, Finnair, announced in a statement on Monday the cancellation and delay of flights to Hong Kong after the city's airport was taken over by anti-extradition bill protesters.

Earlier in the day, Hong Kong International Airport announced the cancellation of all departing and arriving flights due to a massive sit-in protest inside the terminals that has caused severe disruptions.

"Due to demonstrations in Hong Kong the airport is closed and several flights between Helsinki Hong Kong are unfortunately disrupted on August 12-13 2019. There are both cancellations and delays. We are following the situation closely and will update any new information on this page. We do our best to minimize the effects to our customers," the statement read.

The carrier will personally contact all passengers with tickets for these dates, the statement added.

Finnair operates two flights to Hong Kong every day.

Hong Kong has one of the world's busiest airports with a transit capacity of about 800 flights, which means that the disruption is likely to affect tens of thousands of passengers.

The tenth consecutive weekend of anti-extradition bill rallies in Hong Kong resulted in severe clashes between the protesters and law enforcement. A total of more than 40 people were reported injured on both sides during a confrontation on Sunday.

People took to the streets in early June to protest against the adoption of a bill that would allow the extradition of suspects to jurisdictions without a prior extradition agreement with Hong Kong, including mainland China. The government announced the suspension of the bill, but people are demanding that it be withdrawn completely.