Hong Kong airport downtown check-in service to resume after years-long Covid hiatus

Hong Kong airport’s downtown check-in service is set to resume following a three-year-long Covid-induced suspension.

Hong Kong’s in-town check-in service. File photo: Wikicommons.

“The In-town Check-in (ITCI) service at Hong Kong and Kowloon stations is jointly provided by airline operators /ground handling entities,” an MTRC spokesperson told HKFP on Tuesday. “The MTR Corporation has been liaising and working with airline partners on the resumption of ITCI service, so as to provide convenient services to passengers.”

Bloomberg cited sources saying that check-in counters at the Hong Kong MTR Station are set to reopen next Wednesday, though no decision had been made for counters at Kowloon and Tsing Yi.

The downtown check-in service were halted in April 2020 and has been shut since. It remained closed this year even as Covid rules were eased. The service allowed passengers to check luggage in for an imminent flight in Hong Kong, Kowloon and Tsing Yi MTR stations before commuting to the airport on Lantau Island.

Hong Kong recorded 2.83 million provisional visitor arrivals in May, up from 2.45 million in March, the first full month that travel restrictions were dropped. However, the number is still less than half of the arrival figures in May 2019, according to Tourism Board data.

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