Hong Kong Airline Crews To Be Allowed Free Movement On Layovers

These changes apply significantly to several Hong Kong airliners, such as flag carrier Cathay Pacific and its low-cost subsidiary HK Express, Hong Kong Airlines, and Greater Bay Airlines, to name a few. With the latest revision, these airlines would have a more convenient time rostering crew rotations and allowing crews to take up more flights, as there is now hardly any mandatory downtime.

More airlines are coming back to Hong Kong

As Hong Kong continues easing pandemic-related restrictions for airline crew and passengers, the country has been seeing a significant surge in tourist demand, especially as the peak year-end holiday season approaches. Foreign carriers, such as Air France, British Airways, and Singapore Airlines, have been adding more flights to Hong Kong as they celebrate returning to a definite business and tourist hotspot destination without many restrictions.

The first British Airways direct flight from Hong Kong to London will take-off on December 10th, using its Boeing 787 aircraft fleet. The flight from Hong Kong will operate every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Air France will also restart flying from Hong Kong to Paris next year on January 3rd, serving flight services on a daily frequency.

Air France is expected to operate the Hong Kong-Paris route with its
Boeing 787-9
on the 13 hours and 15 minutes flight. Photo: Air France

Singapore Airlines, alongside its low-cost subsidiary Scoot, will gradually add more flights to meet the rising demand from Singapore to Hong Kong. Cathay Pacific has also noted that flight bookings from Singapore to Hong Kong have multiplied since the relaxation for passengers was announced. Regional General Manager of Southeast Asia and Southwest Pacific for Cathay Pacific, Dominic Perret, said:

“We look forward to adding more flights to our Singapore schedule in the coming months so that more Hong Kong people can travel to the city-state and so that we can welcome more Singaporeans onboard, whether they are traveling to Hong Kong or beyond.”

Cathay Pacific prepares for a busy year-end

And besides a growing demand from Singapore, Cathay Pacific has also seen surging passenger demands from within the Asia-Pacific region. So far this month, the airline has added more than 200 pairs of commercially scheduled outbound from Hong Kong to regional destinations such as Seoul in Korea, Bangkok in Thailand, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, and Manila in the Philippines.

With Japan having also relaxed its restrictions, Cathay Pacific will increase passenger flights to Osaka to about 50 pairs this month. The airline will also restart daily flights to Tokyo/Narita from November 1st, with approximately 43 pairs. Then on December 1st, the oneworld alliance member will resume four-times weekly flights to Hokkaido/Sapporo.

Cathay Pacific enhances flight frequencies to Vancouver in Canada and Sydney and Melbourne in Australia for its
long-haul
network. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Bottom line

After being stagnant much longer than most of the world, it’s great to see Hong Kong’s aviation industry begin to flourish progressively. While it will take some time before the country regains its well-connected and well-known international hub status, ensuring that Hong Kong airliners are on a steadier path of recovery is currently most important.

Especially for Cathay Pacific, considering the flag carrier has been unable to recover at least 40% of its pre-pandemic capacity, indicating quite an unfortunate downfall. Hopefully, with the increased flight schedules and through catering to the anticipated demand, Hong Kong and its aviation industry can finally end this year thriving more than it ever did for the past two years.

Source: Bloomberg