Hong Kong’s Transport and Logistics Bureau has decided **not** to arrange government-chartered Cathay Pacific services to evacuate several hundred SAR residents who are still stuck in Gulf countries after large parts of West-Asia airspace were closed last week. Officials told the South China Morning Post that the volatile security picture, the patchwork re-opening of flight corridors and the difficulty of obtaining short-notice departure slots in places such as Oman and the United Arab Emirates made charter operations “impractical and potentially unsafe”.
Instead, the Security Bureau is working with Emirates and other commercial airlines to pre-block seats for Hongkongers on their limited services out of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. By 5 p.m. on Friday the Immigration Department’s Assistance to Hong Kong Residents Unit had received about 790 enquiries; roughly 250 people had already managed to leave, while “hundreds” remained in safe locations awaiting onward travel. (scmp.com)
For travellers scrambling to secure the right documents as they piece together multi-leg journeys home, VisaHQ can take the pain out of arranging urgent transit or entry visas. Through its Hong Kong portal (https://www.visahq.com/hong-kong/), the service tracks real-time embassy requirements and submits applications on a client’s behalf, helping stranded passengers avoid bureaucratic snags while they wait for a coveted seat on commercial flights.
![Hong Kong rules out chartering Cathay Pacific rescue flights for residents stranded in Middle-East]()
The government’s calculus differs from many Western counterparts—such as the United States, Germany and France—which have begun organising repatriation flights for nationals caught up in the conflict triggered by U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February. Hong Kong officials argue that Cathay has no regular services to Oman and limited presence elsewhere in the Gulf, meaning ad-hoc clearances would face long bureaucratic lead-times.
For mobility managers the message is clear: do not rely on contingency charters. Companies with staff in the region should ensure they are registered with the AHU’s 24-hour hotline (+852 1868), keep travel risk insurers on standby, and budget for expensive last-minute tickets on third-country carriers that can overfly Turkey or Central Asia.
Longer-term, the episode is likely to reignite debate over whether Hong Kong should develop rapid-deployment arrangements—possibly using wet-leased aircraft from neutral jurisdictions—to protect business travellers in future geopolitical crises.
Instead, the Security Bureau is working with Emirates and other commercial airlines to pre-block seats for Hongkongers on their limited services out of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. By 5 p.m. on Friday the Immigration Department’s Assistance to Hong Kong Residents Unit had received about 790 enquiries; roughly 250 people had already managed to leave, while “hundreds” remained in safe locations awaiting onward travel. (scmp.com)
For travellers scrambling to secure the right documents as they piece together multi-leg journeys home, VisaHQ can take the pain out of arranging urgent transit or entry visas. Through its Hong Kong portal (https://www.visahq.com/hong-kong/), the service tracks real-time embassy requirements and submits applications on a client’s behalf, helping stranded passengers avoid bureaucratic snags while they wait for a coveted seat on commercial flights.
The government’s calculus differs from many Western counterparts—such as the United States, Germany and France—which have begun organising repatriation flights for nationals caught up in the conflict triggered by U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February. Hong Kong officials argue that Cathay has no regular services to Oman and limited presence elsewhere in the Gulf, meaning ad-hoc clearances would face long bureaucratic lead-times.
For mobility managers the message is clear: do not rely on contingency charters. Companies with staff in the region should ensure they are registered with the AHU’s 24-hour hotline (+852 1868), keep travel risk insurers on standby, and budget for expensive last-minute tickets on third-country carriers that can overfly Turkey or Central Asia.
Longer-term, the episode is likely to reignite debate over whether Hong Kong should develop rapid-deployment arrangements—possibly using wet-leased aircraft from neutral jurisdictions—to protect business travellers in future geopolitical crises.
