Originally Posted by
kevincrumbs
Interesting list but some of these are really beyond HKG's control and has nothing to do with HKG as a market. Examples of this include Thai Smile being folded back into TG (similar to KA with CX) and VA switching business models and ditching all long haul flying. SA & SK have also had tough times as airlines so I'm not surprised HKG is not an important market for those carriers right now.
Indeed; obviously a lot going on here (the Russian airlines have their own issues for example too..) I thought it would be interesting to speculate generally, including any problems faced by some of these airlines with respect to flying to HKG and not necessarily only with respect to HKG's ability to win them back.
VA is an interesting one as there was a lot of debate about their rationale. They pulled out when Covid restrictions were still relatively tough but blamed Russian airspace restrictions. And they are still flying to Shanghai along with destinations in India and Africa which suggests long-haul is still in the mix for them.