The Airport Authority (AA) on Friday said contingency measures are in place after a number of airlines were affected by a global outage involving Microsoft systems.

It said the disruption affected five airlines, including Hong Kong Express, adding that these carriers had to switch to manual check-in, which was more time consuming and resulted in the delay of around a dozen flights.

Dicky, a tourist from Thailand, said he had arrived at the airport hours before his flight but couldn't check into his HK Express flight to Bangkok

"Because I am not in a hurry today, so I still can wait, but I am not sure for some people... If someone is in a hurry, then there definitely will be a delay. I mean, if I cannot check in now, it means maybe the flight will be delayed because they just say, please wait a moment, and then when the time has come, they will call us," he said.

Another traveller, surnamed Li, said his flight to the Thai capital was postponed.

"Our travel plans will be slightly affected, for example the hotel arrangements, transportation and other issues. They might affect our itinerary. My kid may fall asleep very late tonight after arriving there. In such situations, we can only wait. There are no alternatives apart from waiting. I hope that the system will recover soon," he added.

The AA said it has deployed additional staff to assist affected passengers, and that it is in close communication with airline operators to address the situation.

Meanwhile, the Hospital Authority said its computer system has been functioning normally despite the global outage.

The authority said it will ensure that the operations of public hospitals will continue as normal, and that it will closely monitor the situation.
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Last updated: 2024-07-19 HKT 20:50