The start-up is to delay its first flight to Hong Kong, scheduled to take off on 30 April, because it has not yet received permission to fly through Russian airspace.
Seven months after its inaugural flight to Hong Kong from Melbourne, Virgin Australia is to launch a second route to the autonomous territory as it seeks to build on a strategy that has resulted in its best underlying first-half profit performance in a decade.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport remains the world’s busiest airport, according to preliminary traffic figures, but Beijing Capital is closing the gap. The statistics - which reveal the top 20 airports by passenger numbers - also show there is no stopping China’s rapid growth, with 12 new airports beginning commercial air service during 2017.
As hundreds of airlines from around the world gather in Barcelona for World Routes 2017, Routesonline can reveal the top international routes by passenger numbers.
Honk Kong-based regional carrier Cathay Dragon is poised to expand its operations in the region after signing an agreement for 32 Airbus A321neo aircraft.
Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific is to expand its route network and increase its fleet of Airbus A350-900 aircraft as it grapples with "intense competition", particularly on international routes to and from China.
The huge surge in demand for flights across Asia is placing severe constraints on capacity. Ahead of his participation at Routes Asia HKIA director C K Ng outlines how he is aiming to ensure the airport keeps pace including its new £15bn third runway.
Subject to regulatory approvals, the new service will operate for a three month period between December 1, 2017 and February 28, 2018 and will complement Cathay Pacific’s current seasonal double daily flights to Auckland as well as strategic partner Air New Zealand’s daily service between Hong Kong and Auckland.
Cathay Pacific will offer a four times weekly service between its Hong Kong International Airport hub and Barcelona from July 2, 2017, subject to final government approval, continuing through the peak travel months until October 27, 2017. This will be the first ever non-stop offering between Hong Kong and Barcelona.
The carrier, part of the HNA Group, will offer a daily flight between Hong Kong and Vancouver from June 30, 2017, initially using a 283-seat Airbus A330-200 but likely to be switched to the A350-900 once the first of its aircraft are delivered towards the end of next year.
There has been a steady increase year-on-year in the number of Hong Kong and China travellers visiting New Zealand. According to official figures from Statistics New Zealand, as of March 2016, the total number of visitors from Hong Kong and China were up 19.1 percent and 27.8 percent, respectively.
Tokyo will be Hong Kong Airlines’ seventh destination in Japan and will complement its existing twice daily flights to Routes Asia 2017 host city, Okinawa, daily flight to Okayama, five times weekly service to Sapporo, three times weekly service to Kagoshima and twice weekly flights to Miyazaki and Kumamoto.
The return of the Hong Kong – Phnom Penh operation will place Hong Kong Airlines in competition with Dragonair, which will soon be renamed Cathay Dragon to emphasise its relationship with Hong Kong’s largest air carrier, Cathay Pacific. It also offers flights between Hong Kong and Siem Reap in Cambodia, a market that HK Express introduced in September 2015.
Since Dragonair became a wholly owned subsidiary of Cathay Pacific in 2006, it has added 23 new destinations and the number of passengers travelling across both carriers has grown five times to more than seven million in 2015. The combined annual passenger number of the two airlines grew from 22 million to more than 34 million last year.
The A350 will primarily be deployed on the airline's long-haul routes to Europe, Australia and the United States, enabling China Airlines to offer its passengers non-stop service on ultra-long routes. However, it will initially operate in local markets for crew familiarisation.
