Hong Kong Airlines plans long-haul flights to Vancouver and the Gold Coast

Hong Kong Airlines is planning to operate long-haul flights again after this strategy almost liquidated the airline in 2019. This time, however, the company is taking a more conservative approach.

Hong Kong Airlines resumes intercontinental flights

Hong Kong Airlines is currently a regional airline that primarily operates flights within Asia. However, the airline plans to change this from early 2025:

• From January 17, 2025, Hong Kong Airlines plans to operate four weekly flights between Hong Kong (HKG) and Gold Coast, Australia (OOL).
• Starting January 18, 2025, Hong Kong Airlines plans to operate twice-weekly flights between Hong Kong (HKG) and Vancouver, Canada (YVR).

The airline says this is a strategic move that marks the airline’s transformation from a regional airline to one with a global route network. Hong Kong Airlines will use Airbus A330s on this route, so the 6,392-mile flight to Vancouver extends the range of this aircraft in some ways.

What’s interesting is that a few months ago, Jeff Sun Jianfeng, CEO of Hong Kong Airlines, said in an interview with Bloomberg that the airline wanted to acquire at least three used Boeing 787s to restart long-haul service. The airline was reportedly targeting Los Angeles (LAX), Seattle (SEA), Toronto (YYZ) and Vancouver (YVR).

So now we’re seeing the airline restart its North American operations with the A330, even though not much else in North America (aside from Seattle) is within range of this aircraft.

Background information on Hong Kong Airlines: The airline currently has a fleet of 23 Airbus aircraft, consisting of A320 and A330 family aircraft, which have been used for flights within Asia in recent years. However, the airline used to be much bigger… well, in short.

In 2017, the company embarked on a huge expansion push that saw the airline acquire Airbus A350, with the aim of becoming a truly global airline. The airline eventually launched flights to the United States, including Los Angeles and San Francisco. I even had the opportunity to test drive Hong Kong Airlines’ A350 Business Class.

Well, that service lasted a full few years, and in early 2020 the airline suspended all long-haul flights and scrapped its A350s.

Hong Kong Airlines had suffered financial losses on long-haul flights. It didn’t help that Hong Kong Airlines’ parent company, HNA Group, wasn’t in a great financial position.

For many months the airline was on the verge of liquidation, at times unable to even pay its employees. Fortunately, the airline managed to restructure and returned to profitability. The airline’s number of planes has grown from more than 50 to less than half as many.

Does Hong Kong Airlines’ strategy make sense?

Does it make sense for Hong Kong Airlines to restart long-haul flights even though these efforts almost bankrupted the airline several years ago?

I’m fundamentally skeptical, considering how poorly it worked the first time. It’s notoriously difficult to make money on long-haul flights, especially if you’re not the dominant business airline and do the bulk of the corporate contracts.

Hong Kong Airlines will struggle to attract high-interest business travelers because the airline simply does not have Cathay Pacific’s schedule, frequencies or existing relationships. For example, Cathay Pacific flies to Vancouver twice daily, while Hong Kong Airlines flies twice weekly.

It won’t be easy to make money from leisure travelers on such routes, especially as a non-preferred airline. We’re seeing round-trip fares from the US to Hong Kong under $700 again, and that’s not going to make money for the airlines.

Asia is currently in a strange situation when it comes to aviation, considering that demand for international travel in mainland China has not yet recovered. This is a blessing and a curse for airlines, with airlines from mainland China offering significantly smaller international schedules than before the pandemic.

This means many travelers from mainland China travel through other hubs. At the same time, there just aren’t that many of them.

To Hong Kong Airlines’ credit, taking off with an A330 represents at least a small risk. To operate this service, the airline does not need to purchase new jets and the cost is also lower than brand new A350s. So I don’t think this will be a resounding success, although the airline may be fine with A330s and it is at least a low-risk option to try long-haul flying.

Conclusion

Hong Kong Airlines plans to resume long-haul flights. From January 2025, the airline will operate flights to Vancouver and Gold Coast using existing A330s. There have been discussions about the possibility of purchasing used 787s, but nothing has come of this so far.

I’m excited to see how this works. More competition is a good thing, although I can’t imagine the returns on these flights will be great.

What do you think of Hong Kong Airlines’ long-haul growth plans?