Hong Kong International Airport has announced the cancellation of all evening flights today, August 12, 2019, from 6 PM onwards, citing security concerns due to protests at the airport. Flights scheduled to depart after 5:55 pm have been cancelled.

Here is the notice that can be seen on the website of the Hong Kong airport right now.

Flights for which check-in was completed at the time of issuing the notice, and arrival flights that are already flying into Hong Kong and are airborne, the rest of the flights have been cancelled for the rest of the day. Here is Cathay Pacific echoing the wording.

With the exception of flights departing Hong Kong that have already completed the check-in process, as well as inbound flights that are already heading to Hong Kong, all other flights have been cancelled for the rest of today.

— Cathay Pacific (@cathaypacific) August 12, 2019

The move will not only affect passengers that will fly out from Hong Kong this evening, but they will also affect anyone who has a flight to Hong Kong coming in tomorrow or so, and those passing through to connect on a different Cathay Pacific flight in the region. If you have immediate plans to travel to Hong Kong, or fly on Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong, you are advised to take a rain check on your plans.

Like you can see, flights operating till 17:55 are continuing but flights after that time are showing as cancelled on the Hong Kong Airport departures site. You can check the arrivals site here.

As a consequence, the flights of Air India departing out of Hong Kong at 18:05 might be cancelled today. The Hong Kong Airport website says it will be, while Air India shows the flight on time. We will see.

The Cathay Pacific website has been updated as follows at 1645 HKT:

Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon have been informed by the Hong Kong International Airport Authority that all departing flights are cancelled today, Monday 12 August, effective immediately. The cancellation period will extend until the morning of tomorrow, Tuesday 13 August. This is as a result of the public assembly taking place at Hong Kong International Airport.

Customers are therefore advised to postpone non-essential travel both today (12 August) and tomorrow (13 August) and should not proceed to the airport. Additionally, In-town Check-in services have been suspended.

Bottomline

If you were supposed to fly to Hong Kong or pass through, take note. The pro-democracy protests, which have been simmering for the past two months, are now at a flashpoint. If you are already in Hong Kong, this will be a confusing situation given you might not know where your bags are if you used the city check-in facility.

Were you planning to be in Hong Kong during this week and are facing issues due to Hong Kong Airport Shut Down?