Covid-19: HK Express suspends flights between Monday and April 30

Hong Kong’s low-cost carrier will suspend all flights between Monday and April 30, due to falling demand and travel restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Given the challenges we have faced, it is vital to preserve our balance to ensure that we remain together,” said HK Express executive director Mandy Ng in a statement.

The airline, owned by airline Cathay Pacific, plans to resume operations on May 1 and will continue to sell tickets for flights to take place after that date.

According to the daily South China Morning Post, HK Express is the first company to take such a drastic step in the Chinese special administrative region, but half a hundred companies in the sector worldwide have also decided to temporarily suspend operations.

The restrictions on travel to Japan, one of the global focuses of the SARS – CoV -2 coronavirus , imposed a severe setback on the company, which had one of its most frequented destinations in the Japanese country.

With the pandemic , HK Express went from 34 daily flights from Hong Kong International Airport to five flights over the past week.

So far, Hong Kong has diagnosed 209 contagions from Covid -19, including four dead, according to local health officials.

In addition to the crisis caused by the Covid -19 pandemic , added to the drop in visitors caused by anti-government demonstrations , which for about six months took over the streets of Hong Kong last year..

The new coronavirus , responsible for the Covid -19 pandemic , infected more than 235,000 people worldwide, of whom more than 9,800 died.

After appearing in China in December , the outbreak has now spread to 179 countries and territories, prompting the World Health Organization ( WHO ) to declare a pandemic situation .

Several countries have adopted exceptional measures , including the quarantine regime and border closure.