While the start of this year’s Routes World event in Hong Kong was disrupted as Super Typhoon Regesa swept through town, flexibility and the use of AI helped mitigate the impact inside and outside the show. Mike Miller reports from Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s red carpet rollout for thousands of Routes World attendees turned out to be a massive water salute, as Super Typhoon Regasa completely disrupted the first half of this year’s event.
The opening reception was moved to become a closing sendoff as attendees sheltered at their respective hotels while the city and airport locked down until the storm had passed.
The Typhoon hammered airlines in the region. Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific cancelled more than 500 flights and its budget subsidiary HK Express cut more than 100.
Greater Bay Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, Japan Airlines, United Airlines and others all pre-cancelled flights. A flurry of cargo Boeing 747s departed before the storm hit as well.
The newly expanded Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) remained open throughout, providing cots and food for stranded travellers, as the airport and surrounding areas benefited from a new US$3.8 billion drainage system that handled the deluge of water.
Overnight, as the storm raged, the Routes team, supported by HKIA staff, miraculously managed to reconfigure a large hotel ballroom to handle 54 airline-airport meeting tables and then re-planned more than 300 airline route planning meetings that began a few hours later.
“What an amazing job to move ahead and allow all these meetings to happen when the city is shut down,” said a Canadian airport delegate.
Even more amazing may have been the Hong Kong airport’s recovery, which occurred in just 24 hours despite all passenger and cargo aircraft being relocated to other airports in Asia out of the storm’s path.
“We are used to digital innovation, and we used AI to plan for various scenarios, including this storm and how best to recover,” said Ronald Lam, Chief Executive at the airport’s home carrier Cathay Group. “We are getting better at handling inclement weather.”
During the storm’s arrival, Cathay published a live blog “to show how we’re handling difficult weather situations, allowing passengers to get live updates of what’s happening.”
