Originally Posted by
moreismore
According to the Wikipedia site, KA’s PEK and PVG routes were transferred from CX upon the acquisition.
And, CX(Swire) and the former Hong Kong Airways (Jardine and BOAC) had an agreement on routes allocation. It seems that HK used to have tradition of allocating routes between different carriers. So that may answer why some routes are CX’s, while others are KA’s and HX’s?
Are you are referring to this section at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathay_Dragon?
In January 1990, Cathay Pacific, Swire Group and CITIC Pacific acquired an 89 percent stake in the airline, with CITIC Pacific holding 38 percent; while the family of the airline's chairman Kuang-Piu Chao reduced their holding from 22 percent to 6 percent, with the remainder held by minor shareholders. The change of ownership saw Cathay Pacific transferring its Beijing and Shanghai routes to Dragonair, along with a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar on a lease basis. The first Airbus A320 joined the airline's fleet in March 1993 and by December, there was a total of six A320 aircraft. This was followed by the introduction of the Airbus A330 into the Dragonair's fleet in July 1995.
When CX and Swire became KA shareholders in 1990, CX transferred PEK and SHA to KA. I don't have any evidence, but back then PEK and SHA were probably the only 2 destinations CX had in Mainland China. At the end of Jul. 1996, CX also transferred KHH to KA. In the 1990s all the way to early 2000s, KA operated Mainland China and some other second-tier East Asian and Southeast Asian cities, while CX focused on major Asian cities and intercontinental routes. Back then, HK did have a "one route, one HK carrier" policy, and CX and KA complemented each other. Throughout this time, CX considered KA its affiliate carrier and was selling tickets on KA's behalf in most countries without KA's presence. KA also was one of the founding partners of Asia Miles.
In the mid-2000s, CX and KA became "frenemies." While they still collaborated on most routes, the overlaps in PEK, XMN, TPE, BKK, and NRT led to competition between the two carriers. Eventually, CX bought KA and made KA its wholly-owned subsidiary in 2006. Usually, when people refer to the "acquisition" or "merger," this is the one they talk about, but it is true that CX and Swire already became KA shareholders in 1990. This may be confusing, but these are two very distinct points in the history of CX and KA.
After the merger in 2006, a few more PEK and XMN pairs were transferred from KA to CX. In addition, CX took the BKK and NRT flights from KA, while transferred the XMN flight to KA. Recently, CX also transferred PEN and KUL to KA, effectively ending its operations in Malaysia.
On another note, the old Hong Kong Airways ceased to operate in 1958 and was merged into CX. CX launched Taiwan and Japan on 03JUL1959 and 04JUL1959, respectively, after taking over the route from the old Hong Kong Airways. The present day HX has nothing to do with the old Hong Kong Airways, and by the time HX was founded in 2006, I believe the "one route, one HKSAR carrier" rule has been very much relaxed.