Inside the departure hall, many passengers sat glued to their phones, while others fashioned makeshift beds from chairs and spare clothing, trying to steal a few hours of rest on the floor.
Some had arrived hours earlier than necessary, anticipating transport chaos and hoping to secure a spot before potential disruptions to trains and buses serving the airport.
One group travelling under particularly stressful circumstances was a study tour of children, scheduled to depart at 8.55am on Sunday for Munich via a connecting flight in Turkey.
Their departure time has been shifted multiple times — first pushed back to 10.50am, then abruptly moved forward to 10.10am.
“It keeps changing back and forth,” said the tour guide.
“To be honest, it was really hard to get out here. We all had to take taxis.”
Though she acknowledged that the No. 8 typhoon signal still remained in effect, she expressed hope that the trip could still proceed.
“We have so many kids with us — 17 children — and it isn’t easy for them … If we have to keep waiting, I think it would be too exhausting for them.”
She added the journey itself was harrowing, as her taxi passed several collapsed trees along the roadside.
Elsewhere in the terminal, a Macao resident who had returned from Japan via Hong Kong, found herself stranded for more than eight hours after the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge was closed due to the severe weather.
She said she had already known earlier that Hong Kong might be hit by the storm, so she was mentally prepared and would wait for the weather to improve before leaving, adopting a “take things as they come” attitude.
“It was T8 at first, and then not long after it became T9,” she said.
“There’s no helping the weather. It just happened that a typhoon was coming, so nothing could operate. We’ll just wait for the weather to turn around and then leave.
“Actually, they’d been saying a typhoon was approaching a few days earlier, so I was already prepared. It’s okay — just take things as they come,” she said.
With public transport links between the airport and the city affected, many passengers were left stranded indoors, queuing for taxi numbers while Airport Authority staff offered assistance on-site.
The Airport Authority had earlier said that it activated a flight rescheduling system to manage take-offs and landings as weather conditions allow.
Travellers were reminded to check with their airlines for the latest updates and confirm flight times before making their way to the airport.
