Hong Kong International Airport was in recovery mode on Tuesday morning as airlines worked to send passengers to their destinations after a crippling citywide strike forced hundreds of flight cancellations.

The MTR Corporation, the city’s railway operator, also confirmed that cross-border train services resumed early on Tuesday.

Hong Kong’s local airlines cancelled about 250 of 1,000 passenger flights on Monday after air traffic controllers, flight attendants, pilots and ground crew called in sick en masse in support of the anti-government strike.

Congestion was widely expected at the global transport hub, which handles an average of 200,000 travellers each day, after dozens of flights were rescheduled for Tuesday.

Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon, which handle about 100,000 passengers a day, had to cancel 140 flights during the strike.

The Cathay group, which also owns budget carrier HK Express, advised customers against going to the airport unless their flight had been confirmed and to arrive three or four hours early because of overburdened security checkpoints.

Twelve departing flights and 37 arrivals were cancelled on Tuesday.

Hong Kong International Airport was scheduled to handle 511 departing flights on Tuesday and a similar number of arrivals – a nearly full schedule. Nineteen of Monday’s cancelled flights were rescheduled for Tuesday.