In January, Hong Kong Airlines said it was looking for 1,000 new talents to join its workforce by the end of 2023 "to meet operational needs and future growth." Yesterday it announced the latest step to full recovery, putting those 1,000 recruits to good use on new routes and services.

New route to Fukuoka

Yesterday's story was that Hong Kong Airlines (HX) is launching four times weekly nonstop flights from Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) to Fukuoka on the southwest coast of Japan. The services, which start on April 7th, will be the first time the airline has operated direct flights to Fukuoka Airport (FUK).

The route will operate on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, departing Hong Kong at 19:25 as flight HX640. An Airbus A320-200 is scheduled to operate the 3:35 hour flight to Fukuoka, landing at 1500 and leaving at 1600, returning to HKG as flight HX641 to touch down at 1835.

Since starting up in 2006 as a full-service carrier, Hong Kong Airlines has established a network of 25 destinations across Asia-Pacific. According to ch-aviation.com, the airline has a fleet of 30 Airbus aircraft, including 12 A320-200s, 10 A330-200s, seven A330-300s and one A350-900. However, the data lists that just 11 are currently active, eight A320-200s and three A330-300s.

That capacity level is not surprising given the harsh lockdowns endured in Hong Kong that only eased at the end of 2022. In the January announcement, Hong Kong Airlines said it expected to increase its flight operations to 30 sectors per day by the end of the month, reaching 30% of pre-pandemic levels.

At that time, it flew to 15 regional destinations, including Tokyo, Osaka, Okinawa, Sapporo, Seoul, Bangkok, Manila, Hanoi, Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu and Haikou. These destinations in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam and China represent around 50% of the pre-pandemic operation. By the end of this year, the airline expects to be operating 75% of its pre-pandemic capacity, reaching 100% by the middle of 2024.

Hong Kong Airlines Chairman Hou Wei said the airline had leveraged every travel opportunity and continued to see positive business growth, "particularly from the Japanese markets." He added:

"Following the reopening of Chinese borders, Mainland China will definitely be the next market to contribute significantly to our travel recovery efforts. As such, our flights to the mainland double up to 35 sectors per week starting from 10 January to offer more travel options for our customers."

Shanghai and Bali are back on the rotation

On Monday, April 17th, HX resumes two other routes from Hong Kong to Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) in China and Bali Denpasar (DPS) in Indonesia. The Bali service will operate five times weekly while the Shanghai route will be daily, both served with a widebody Airbus A330-300.

Last week it also announced it was increasing flights between Hong Kong and Okinawa in Japan, a route resumed in November last year. The route restarted as a three-times weekly service and went daily in December, but increased demand means more frequencies will be added. Hong Kong Airlines is adding a second daily flight in May, with a three-times daily service planned to start in July. This will return the route to 100% of pre-pandemic capacity.

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Tomorrow it will become the first Hong Kong local airline to fly to Beijing Daxing International Airport when it launches a four-times-weekly service. It will also be the first local Hong Kong carrier to operate at both of Beijing's international airports, Beijing Daxing (PKK) and Beijing Capital (PEK).

Have you flown with Hong Kong Airlines? Let us know about it in the comments.