Having heard often that there were airlines that had yet to return to HKG but might when labor/cost issues were resolved I thought it would be interesting to make a list of those lost since the onset of the pandemic, as well as the new ones that have popped up since and those that seem to want to come.
Gone and not returned since the end of 2019:
- Air Astana
- Air Mauritius
- Air Seoul
- American Airlines
- Cathay Dragon (merged into Cathay Pacific)
- Eastar Jet (Korean)
- Egyptair
- El Al
- Eznis (Mongolian)
- Jetstar Asia (ceasing operations)
- Jetstar Japan
- Jetstar Pacific (now Pacific Airlines, Vietnamese)
- Lanmei Airlines (Cambodian)
- Malindo Air (still serving HKG but renamed Batik Air Malaysia)
- Mandarin Airlines (Taiwanese)
- Myanmar National Airlines
- Royal Jordanian
- S7 Airlines (Russian)
- Scandinavian
- South African Airways
- Spicejet
- Thai Smile (merged into Thai Airways as of 2024)
- Virgin Atlantic
- Virgin Australia
Resumed and then pulled out again:
New since the onset of the pandemic:
- Air Premia (South Korean)
- Batik Air Malaysia (originally present as Malindo)
- Bhutan Airlines
- Cambodia Airlines
- Cambodia Angkor Air
- Delta (returning for the first time since 2018)
- Greater Bay Airlines
- Hainan Airlines
- Indonesia AirAsia
- Jianxi Air
- Loong Air
- Qingdao Air
- Royal Air Philippines
- Ruili Airlines
- Starlux
- Tianjin Airlines
- Urumqi Air
- Vistara (Indian)
Announced interest in flying to HKG:
- Air Algerie
- Alii Palau
- AIr Borneo
- Be0nd (Maldivian)
- Really Cool Airlines (Thai)
- Slovenia Air
- Solomon Airlines
- Thai Lion Air
- Tigerair Taiwan
Thoughts on the return of old airlines / prospects of the new and coming ones? Interesting that some of these that have gone are not flying to HK anymore but do fly to the mainland or Macau.