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Asahi Shimbun

Quake rumor in Hong Kong forces canceling of Japan flights

Tottori Governor Shinji Hirai, left, holds an online meeting with Hiroki Ito, right side on screen, general manager of Hong Kong-based Greater Bay Airlines' Japan office, at the Tottori prefectural government's office in Tottori on July 2. (Yoshihiro Tomita) TOTTORI—An unfounded rumor of an impending major earthquake in Japan has forced international flights between Yonago Kitaro Airport in Sakaiminato, Tottori Prefecture, and Hong Kong to be suspended at the end of August. The rumor that 'a major disaster will occur in Japan in July' has been spreading on social media and by other means in Hong Kong. As a result, the number of passengers on the route has plummeted since May. A representative of Hong Kong-based Greater Bay Airlines, the operator of the flights, said the rumor triggered the decision to ground the service. Hiroki Ito, general manager of the airline's Japan office, met online with Tottori Governor Shinji Hirai on July 2 and reported the decision to suspend operations. 'The trend of voluntary restraint on travel from Hong Kong to Japan has become more pronounced since the latter half of May and we are now below the break-even point,' Ito said. 'We will suspend operations for the time being and hope to resume when the situation improves.' Hirai said, 'I hope that we can continue to keep the pipeline open for discussions and communication in the future.' Regular flights between Yonago and Hong Kong had been suspended since February 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The scheduled route had just resumed after an interval of nearly five years when Greater Bay Airlines began service in October 2024. Currently, three flights per week are in operation. The seat utilization rate had been hovering around 60 percent every month, but in May this year, the rate was 43.3 percent, a sharp drop from 58.7 percent in April. The prefectural government believed that this was due to the spread of a rumor triggered by a Japanese manga in Hong Kong. According to Greater Bay Airlines, seat utilization in June is also expected to be around 40 percent. In May, the airline reduced the number of scheduled flights between Hong Kong and Sendai and Hong Kong and Tokushima.