Hong Kong Express Airways on Sunday apologised to two passengers, who are visually impaired, after staff asked them to leave a flight to Tokyo in May.

The move came after the Hong Kong Blind Union said two of its members had complained that they had been unreasonably forced to leave the plane.

At a press conference, the union said the airline had cited safety reasons for asking them to leave. The Blind Union's president, Billy Wong, said a new approach was needed from the Civil Aviation Department.

"As a supervisory and coordinating agency and a government department, we hope the Civil Aviation Department can do more to help people with visual impairments or disabilities so they can use these services easily and equally in Hong Kong, which is an aviation hub," he said.

In response, the budget carrier said it was sorry for the inconvenience and delay caused to the passengers and promised to provide compensation.

It said its ground staff and crew members had different assessments of the two passengers who had initially been unable to board their original flight as scheduled following, what it described as, a thorough assessment by management.

But the airline said it was later confirmed that both passengers could safely travel unaccompanied and staff immediately arranged for them to board another flight on the same day.
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Last updated: 2024-07-07 HKT 13:15