HK flights can land Sapporo, Fukuoka and Okinawa if no passengers been in China past 7 days: Japan

Direct flights from Hong Kong and Macau could land in Sapporo New Chitose, Fukuoka, and Okinawa Naha airports if passengers on board have not stayed in China in the past seven days, Japan announced Thursday.

This came after the Japanese government said on Tuesday that direct flights from China, Hong Kong and Macau will only be allowed to land at Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Kansai International Airport in Osaka and Chubu Centrair International Airport in Nagoya.

Hong Kong's government said on Thursday that it noted the latest announcement by Japan's government, but considers the restriction on flights departing from Hong Kong "unreasonable" and has requested the Japanese authorities to withdraw all the restrictions.

It added that the government will continue to request to rescind all discriminative restrictions on passenger flights departing from Hong Kong.

Moreover, Cathay Pacific announced Thursday that they will operate all scheduled flights from Japan to Hong Kong as planned from Friday to January 8, including flights carrying no passengers to Japan to help customers return to Hong Kong.

The airline will operate a reduced flight schedule for flights from Hong Kong to Japan until further notice. All flights to Nagoya and Fukuoka will be cancelled starting Friday.

All Cathay flights from Nagoya will be cancelled starting from January 9. Flights from Sapporo will be reduced from 7 to 5 per week, whilst Fukuoka flights and some Tokyo Narita and Osaka flights will be cancelled on select dates.

Affected customers will be transferred onto other flights available. Customers for Fukuoka will be offered a full refund.

HK Express, which is owned by Cathay, said in a separate statement it would only be able to operate 60 scheduled flights per week to destinations in Japan due to the restrictions, prompting the cancellation of 41 flights from Hong Kong to Japan in January 2023.