After 3 years of remaining closed due to the pandemic, in-town check-in services are finally restarting in Hong Kong.
Cathay Pacific Airways is reopening its check-in desks at Hong Kong’s central business district, starting Wednesday.
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According to Hong Kong train operator MTR Corp., Cathay will be the sole airline offering the service, which will begin at 6 am and end at 3 pm, as per a report in Bloomberg.
Though Cathay confirmed on its website that check-ins will resume at Hong Kong station, operations at Kowloon and Tsing-Yi stations are still suspended. Before COVID-19, other airlines also had their check-in counters at the station, which would be open for longer time periods.
This service will allow travellers to check in and drop off their baggage in central Hong Kong on the day of their departure. Their luggage will be sent to the final destination from thereon.
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This service enables passengers to drop their luggage off at designated places inside the city. (Source: Freepik )
In-town check-in services are provided by only a handful of cities around the world, namely Abu Dhabi, Seoul, London, Vienna, among others. Did you know even Delhi has in-town check-in services available? Sadly, some of them have been defunct ever since the COVID-19 lockdown began.
The service enables passengers to drop their luggage off at designated places inside the city, yet outside the airport, thereby reducing check-in time and queuing at the airport itself. It also helps a city make itself more convenient and accessible for international travellers.
Bloomberg news first reported about the resumption of these services on June 26. They were stopped in April 2020 because of Hong Kong imposing travel curbs on international passengers due to the pandemic.
Though the last of the COVID restrictions have been changed back months before, due to a shortage of workers, MTR and the airport couldn’t resume the bag-drop service sooner.
According to Bloomberg, MTR would keep checking with airlines about restarting check-in points in the downtown area.
There are express-train services that run from the Hong Kong station to the airport, every 10-15 minutes. The time taken to complete this journey is only 24 minutes and costs HK$110-HK$115 ($14-$15) per adult.
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In-town check-in services are provided by only a handful of cities around the world. (Source: Unsplash) 
This service enables passengers to drop their luggage off at designated places inside the city. (Source: Freepik )
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