Dragonair to Resume Links to Guilin and Xi’an

Hong Kong-based Dragonair has confirmed it will resume scheduled services to Xi’an and Guilin, further strengthening Hong Kong International Airport as a key gateway into Mainland China. The Xi’an route will be served on a four times weekly basis from April 1, 2012, increasing to a daily operation from May 1, 2012 when the daily link to Guilin will be resumed. With the resumption of these services, Dragonair will serve 19 cities in Mainland China and a total of 35 destinations in its regional network.

The Hong Kong – Guilin route is already served by Hong Kong Airlines on a daily basis and by China Southern Airlines twice weekly. In the past year an estimated 179,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route, with Dragonair holding a 28 per cent share of the traffic during 2011, up from 22 per cent the previous year. The resumption of the Hong Kong – Xi’an route will put Dragonair back into competition with China Eastern Airlines and Hong Kong Express Airways which offer seven and three flights per week on the route. An estimated 74,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two cities in 2011, up 22.9 per cent on the previous year.

"Dragonair is happy to return to these two popular destinations, offering passengers more choice and greater convenience when travelling to Mainland China. The service resumption to Xi’an and Guilin not only demonstrates our ongoing commitment to bringing our award-winning service to the Mainland, Dragonair’s core market, but also reinforces the significance of our home city Hong Kong as an aviation hub and gateway to China,” said Patrick Yeung, Chief Executive Officer, Dragonair.

The return of these flights is likely to be just part of a wider growth in services between Hong Kong and Mainland China. According to Patrick Yeung, the airline is looking into the possibility “of adding two or three more destinations” in mainland China and within the region later this year. Dragonair has already announced it will increase frequencies to three destinations: Okinawa will be served four times weekly (up from twice weekly) from March 25, 2012, while from May 1, 2012 its link to Ningbo will rise from 10 flights a week to 14 and flights to Qingdao will rise from a daily service to ten a week.

Elsewhere, Dragonair will introduce a widebodied Airbus A330-300 onto a number of its routes including links to Guangzhou and Kunming from March 25, 2012 and Xiamen from May 1, 2012. “By adding more destinations, frequencies and capacity, together with our forward-looking plans for fleet expansion and product development, we aim to reinforce Dragonair’s reputation as one of the most highly regarded carriers in the region,” said Patrick Yeung.

Dragonair is currently the second largest operator at Hong Kong International Airport behind Cathay Pacific Airways. As the table below shows, the airline this month offers almost 450 weekly flights offering over 95,000 seats from the airport, 14 per cent of the total capacity.