The national flag carrier said Friday that ten flights scheduled to leave HCMC and Hanoi for Japanese cities like Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo on Saturday will have their departure delayed by 22 hours on safety considerations.

In addition, the airline announced the cancelation of four flights, including two from Da Nang to Osaka and two from HCMC to Tokyo. Those affected by flight cancelations on Saturday will be given seats on Sunday flights.

It advised passengers to stay updated on the status of their flights as well as on weather conditions.

As of Friday, the center of the storm Hagibis was around 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Chichijima, in the Ogasawara Islands, and was moving north-northwest at 25 kph (15 mph), Japan Times reported.

The storm is expected to carry gusts of 216 kilometers per hour when it makes landfall late Saturday, according to AFP.

Local authorities are also on alert for possible flooding because the storm could make landfall at the same time as high tide in Tokyo Bay. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has requested his cabinet to take all measures to prepare for the typhoon.

The storm is expected to disturb weekend holiday traffic, with many forced to cancel travel plans.

In total, more than 900 flights have been canceled and train operators have announced complete or partial service suspensions starting Saturday morning, local reports said.

The national flag carrier said in a statement Friday that two flights scheduled to leave Ho Chi Minh City for Kaohsiung on Saturday, August 24 have been canceled for safety reasons after warnings have been issued about floods and high seas on the island.

It also rescheduled two other flights that were to depart from Hanoi to Kaohsiung on Sunday morning, August 25.

For those affected by flight cancelations on Saturday, the airline will arrange extra seats on Sunday flights.

Passengers have been advised to stay updated on the status of their flights. They have also been asked to keep track of weather conditions and announcements from the carrier in making their travel plans.

By 7 p.m. Friday, the center of the storm was situated 520 kilometers southeast of Taitung and moving at a speed of 25 km per hour towards the northwest, carrying wind speeds of up to 126 km per hour.

The storm is expected to make landfall in Hualien or Taitung County on the east coast Saturday, Taiwan News reported.

Thousands of people have been moved to safety, most of them tourists on islands off the east coast, while dozens of domestic flights and ferry services were cancelled. Some 34,000 soldiers were deployed in the south amid fears of floods, AFP reported.

With increasing numbers of people opting to fly, Vietnam’s aviation industry has served more than 56.8 million air passengers in the first half of this year, 8.4 percent up from a year ago, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam.

One of the world’s busiest aviation hubs, which handles around 200,000 passengers a day, struggled to resume Tuesday morning after a rally by thousands of protesters triggered an unprecedented shutdown. Hundreds of flights were canceled.

The airport website said Vietnam saw 11 flight cancellations and 10 delayed flights to and from Hong Kong. These flights were operated by seven airlines: domestic air carriers Jetstar Pacific, Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air; and foreign carriers Cathay Dragon, Cathay Pacific, HK Express and Hong Kong Airlines.

The protests, which began as opposition to a now-suspended bill that would have allowed suspects’ extradition to mainland China, but have swelled into wider calls for democracy, also prompted flight cancelations and delays by carriers based in Hong Kong.

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines said it had delayed flights VN594 and VN595 between HCMC and Hong Kong both by seven hours and 40 minutes from their original schedules. Other flights will be operated as planned.

The airline advised passengers departing from Hong Kong International Airport to be present at least three hours before their departure time.

Budget airline Jetstar Pacific canceled two flights BL160 and BL161 on the Hanoi-Hong Kong and Da Nang-Hong Kong routes respectively. Passengers affected by the canceled flights will be accommodated on other flights on the same routes if they wish, the carrier said.

Low-cost air carrier Vietjet Air temporarily suspended services between Ho Chi Minh City and Hong Kong Tuesday.

All airlines recommended that passengers who planned to travel by air between Vietnam and Hong Kong should stay updated on the latest news and notifications to arrange their travel plans accordingly.

All flights in and out of Hong Kong were cancelled Monday after thousands of protesters flooded the city’s airport to denounce police violence, AFP reported.

The abrupt shutdown at one of the world’s busiest hubs came as the Chinese government signaled its rising anger at the protesters, denouncing some of the demonstrations as “terrorism”.

According to Hong Kong police, more than 5,000 protesters gathered at the airport on Monday.

Airport authorities had allowed demonstrators to gather in the arrival halls, but police said some protesters went into the departure halls, disturbing passengers.

The increasingly violent protests have plunged Chinese-ruled Hong Kong into its most serious crisis in decades, presented a serious challenge to Beijing.