Typhoon Noul Strands 2,000 Passengers at Hong Kong International Airport

About 2,000 passengers were stranded overnight at Hong Kong International Airport as Typhoon Noul battered the city, with some dismayed by their disrupted journeys while others complained about hotel room rates that had risen to HK$2,000 (US$255) to HK$3,000 per night. In the airport’s departure hall, nearly all the chairs were occupied on Sunday morning, with some passengers sitting on luggage trolleys. Many slept on benches, while others anxiously checked the status of flights on their phones. Yeung Tat-wing, the Airport Authority’s director of service delivery, said the airport was expected to handle a total of 675 flights on Sunday. The authority said about 360 flights were cancelled. At least 29 departure and 20 arrival flights were cancelled on Saturday. Yeung said most flights would resume on Sunday afternoon and all three runways would operate overnight if necessary. Airport Express rail services resumed at 9am on Sunday, with Yeung saying he hoped all airport operations would return to normal by Monday morning.