Cz/ka: Can-hkg
 

I was wondering for a flight only covering 84 miles between CAN & HKG, why is the flight about 1 hour long? I would have thought the flight would take 30 minutes tops. MEL-SYD is significantly longer and only take around 1 hour also. Surely there must be a reason about this.

Lots of air traffic control restrictions along that busy airspace. It's not a straight line heading out, and not a straight line heading in. A lot of time will be spent lining up for approach.

I've been in the air for 1H+ on CZ before. We circled and circled over Guangdong before coming in for landing over Macau.

Exactly. HK and Mainland China still can't handoff planes below 15 kft. Going into HK, the handoff is over Zhuhai, so planes have to somehow fly 80-100 km too lose that 15 kft by going going deep into the South China Sea. Out of HK, you zig-zag a bit less to get to 15 kft over Lowu/Luohu. All this wasting of fuel is just on the HK side. Wouldn't be a wasteful thing over Mainland airspace--unless you're talking about CAN.

DCA-PHL is also a short flight distance-wise (just 40 miles longer):

http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=d...OR=&MAP-STYLE=

And, it doesn't face any "climb to 15k feet in the first 10 miles" rules... or a handoff between one country's ATC and another's. Yet, it's also blocked at ~1 hour.

My hope for the future is that China and HK effectively eliminate their border. While this would annoy many Hongkies, it's no secret that one of HK's main purposes these days is to support development in the PRC; even with echannels, enormous amounts of our time are wasted at border crossings. If they open the border, a direct train between HKIA and Shenzhen/Guangzhou would become extremely viable -- just extend the AEX across Shenzhen Bay (I'm getting tired of taking those vans every time I fly into HKG, but need to get elsewhere in the PRD).

I also get very tired with this, but even with the current situation, the sheer number of mainlanders in Hong Kong, especially on weekends, threatens to sink the island and peninsula.

HK allows visa free entry to most passport holders, PRC requires visas for almost all passport holders. And recently PRC multiple entry visas are not as easy to obtain as before.

I just do not see anyway around this.

While I see it as a hassle, I also am happy to live in Shenzhen and have easy access to HK for very little cost, unlike ex-pats in Shanghai or elsewhere who have to buy expensive air tickets for visa runs.

I have to admit, though, when I find flights out of SZX to wherever outside China that are priced similarly to flights out of HKG, I am very happy to catch a taxi to SZX for under RMB100 and not deal with Shenzhen Bay or Huanggang, nor pad my driving time by an hour in case the border is clogged up (with mainlanders going to HK to buy more LV and Prada, etc).

They should just open an LV, Prada and Gucci store on the bridge at Lu Wu, it would fix over half these problems.

I agree... I head to HK when I'm in need of a break from the annoying aspects of the Mainland/Shanghai.

Hah!

But then add a baby powder store and the problem surely will be solved!

I was just thinking of a Watsons.

At the Futian port (Lok Ma Chau train station on HK side), there is a Welcome before HK exit passport control.

For a quick trip out of China (for example, 30 or 60 day stay is up), this is the best port to get the China exit stamp, buy a few things, and immediately re-enter China.

But does not solve the Gucci/Prada issues, and I do not remember seeing baby powder in stock.