HK Express admits insufficiency over visually impaired passengers asked to leave flight incident

HK Express apologized again on Monday for the insufficiency in its service-handling procedures, resulting in two visually impaired passengers' travel delays in May.

The budget carrier of Cathay Pacific issued a statement on the same day that the Hong Kong Blind Union submitted an open letter to Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung. 

The letter requested government intervention to urge Cathay Pacific to conduct an initial investigation and to recommend that authorities strengthen supervision of airlines.

This came after two visually impaired passengers complained that after boarding the HK Express flight to Tokyo, Japan, on May 22, the crew asked them to get off the plane because they did not meet the safety standards.

According to the statement on Monday, HK Express said it has completed a comprehensive internal investigation into the incident and found that the judgment of ground staff and cabin crew differed. Thus, the two passengers were unable to take the initially scheduled flight.

The budget carrier said after further assessments and communication regarding emergency escape and safety procedures with the two concerned passengers, it determined the duo could safely fly without an accompanying person and immediately arranged for them to board another flight to their destination on the same day.

HK Express acknowledged insufficiency concerning the execution, which resulted in the delay in the travel of two passengers. It added that the airline is improving the training and execution of the procedures and has stayed in contact with the two passengers regarding the compensation plan. 

It noted that the passengers have yet to accept the offer. 

Separately, Cathay said it takes the complaint case very seriously and has communicated with HK Express to ensure the relevant handling procedures are improved. 

It also recognized that "the service-handling procedures of HK Express in this instant were not ideal" and the group will continue to liaise with the customers on the compensation issue and apologize for the inconvenience caused.