Am I correct in that you need a train ticket to access the in town check in area?

Should be - the ITCI is run by MTR, not AAHK or otherwise paid for as part of your departing air ticket. You're going to have to buy a AEL ticket in order to access the ITCI, whether you subsequently take the AEL or not.

Yes.

As for opening, it looks like it's for real now. The hoardings are all removed, the departure boards are up and running, the counter displays are active, and there were maintenance people rebooting the ticket machines earlier today.

you need to scan a ticket to access but if you have a octopus card you can use that and pay a minimal fee. The fare to the airport will be deducted at additional barriers before you get on the train.

I think you get charged the full AEX fare upon using octopus when you enter the in town check in area already...

This. I just found from MTR website the following paragraph:

Confirmed that Hong Kong station's checkin desk reopen Wednesday July 5, but for now only by CX between 6am and 3pm. (forgive earlier typo which said 9am opening)

6am to 3pm

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...open-wednesday

Can one use In-Town check in if the first segment is CX and need to connect to other OW flights later on, but the online check in for those connecting flights isn't open yet during the hours? Or will I have to wait till all segments checked in online and then drop my luggage at the airport later in the day (well after opening hours at HK Station)?
e.g. HKG-ZRH (CX) - check in open during In-Town hours, ZRH-MAD (IB) - online check in not yet open (T-24h)

(If similar to pre-pandemic) CX can check you through to ZRH-MAD even if OLCI on IB not yet opened (sometimes that's why transit pax get SEQ1)

It seems unlikely that CX will be the 'sole operator' going forward.
Already several airlines have expressed the intention to again offer the service and looking at the websites others that offered the service pre the shutdown all that I looked at say 'temperedly suspended' - not cancelled .

Agreed – CX is the obvious starter due to being the home carrier and having the most flights, but I would expect other airlines to follow throughout the year, even with some 'consolidated' desks covering several airlines which have only a low flight frequency. This is all just part of the recovery and another positive sign.

The other ground service companies, except CX, are in extreme labor shortage and they cannot handle the counters at the airport at this moment. Maybe they will resume the check-in service for Airport Express when they start to recruit foreign workers later this year.

Is it that after tapping the Octopus Card to get into the in-town check-in area, I have to take the AEL directly? Or I can use the Octopus card for several more trips before taking the AEL.

Can