On Tuesday, a Japan Airlines jet carrying 379 passengers and 12 crew members burst into flames after it collided with a smaller plane on the runway following its landing.

All passengers on JAL flight 516 managed to escape unhurt, while five out of the six crew members on the coastguard plane died in the collision. The latter was bound for central Japan after Monday’s deadly earthquake.

Several flights between Haneda and Hong Kong have been delayed, cancelled or diverted in the wake of the fatal accident. Some Hongkongers, however, were returning to the city on Wednesday after being stranded at Tokyo’s airport.

Frequent Japan visitor Ivy Lui on Wednesday said she was set to return to Hong Kong on HK Express flight 623 at 11.55pm on Tuesday after her flight from the Haneda airport was delayed by 24 hours.

Lui, 41, had been in Tokyo for six days to ring in the new year with her 13-year-old daughter. Expecting a flight delay, the duo specifically brought supplies in case they became stranded before arriving at the airport at 11pm on Tuesday.

“I was not too worried. We were still in central Tokyo when we learnt about the news,” Lui said. “I bought two blankets, some food, and water so we won’t be hungry or cold as I was worried that there’ll be too many travellers stuck at the airport with insufficient supplies.”

Upon arrival at Haneda, the two observed orderly queues of travellers making inquiries at the airport before they found out at the gate that their flight was delayed for 24 hours to 11.55pm on Wednesday.

“I think all flights were cancelled last night. No one was checking in anymore,” she said.

Lui, who travelled to Japan four times last year, had to look for accommodation for herself and her daughter. They decided to head back to the hotel in downtown Tokyo they had stayed in during this trip as those around the airport were all packed.

She added that the staff of HK Express and those at the airport were helpful and a Mandarin-speaking staff member informed her that proof of delay would be issued for them upon landing in Hong Kong early on Thursday should they decide to make an insurance claim.

Travel agency WWPKG chief executive officer Yuen Chun-ning said the incident did not impact Hong Kong tours as most of the travel groups normally flew to Narita International Airport, located on the outskirts of the city.

An airport authority spokesman on Wednesday said the collision at Haneda delayed two flights to Hong Kong and forced the cancellation of another bound for the city. He said that flights from Hong Kong to Haneda airport were not affected on Wednesday.

Japan Airlines, which expressed its deepest condolences to the families of the deceased, will offer refunds and flight ticket changes free of charge until March 31.

A Cathay Pacific Airways spokesman said flight 543 scheduled to depart from Haneda to Hong Kong on Wednesday was cancelled, with the passengers transferred onto other flights.

Two Cathay flights from Hong Kong to Haneda Airport operated on Wednesday.

All Nippon Airways operates a flight daily between Hong Kong and Tokyo. On Wednesday, flight NH859 scheduled to depart Haneda at 8.50am was delayed by two hours and 15 minutes.

Flight NH860 from Hong Kong to Haneda was also delayed by around two hours.

HK Express said that two flights from Hong Kong to Tokyo’s Haneda that were scheduled for Tuesday had been rescheduled to depart on Wednesday.

Additional reporting by Edith Lin