Airlines gone, new, and coming to HKG
Aug 27, 2023 | 1:15 pm
#1
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Airlines gone, new, and coming to HKG
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:
Gone and not returned since the end of 2019:
- Air Astana
- Air Busan
- Air Mauritius
- Air Seoul
- American Airlines
- Cathay Dragon (merged into Cathay Pacific)
- Eastar Jet (Korean)
- Egyptair
- El Al
- Etihad
- Eznis (Mongolian)
- Jetstar Asia
- Jetstar Japan
- Jetstar Pacific
- 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)
- Tibet Airlines
- Virgin Atlantic
- Virgin Australia
- Batik Air Malaysia (originally present as Malindo)
- Cambodia Angkor Air
- 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)
- Air Algerie
- Alii Palau
- Be0nd (Maldivian)
- Really Cool Airlines (Thai)
- Slovenia Air
- Solomon Airlines
- Thai Lion Air
- Tigerair Taiwan
Last edited by US HK UK flyer; Aug 16, 2024 at 2:01 am Reason: adding Thai Lion Air
Aug 28, 2023 | 10:49 am
#3
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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.
Aug 28, 2023 | 10:54 am
#4
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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.
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.
Last edited by US HK UK flyer; Aug 28, 2023 at 11:24 am
Aug 30, 2023 | 3:47 pm
#6
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AA is on the list. I compared December 2019 to today in order to focus on political/pandemic disruption; Delta seems to have stopped flying to HK for normal business reasons in 2018.
FWIW it's easier to imagine AA returning to take advantage of connectivity via its OneWorld partner Cathay.
FWIW it's easier to imagine AA returning to take advantage of connectivity via its OneWorld partner Cathay.
Aug 31, 2023 | 6:05 pm
#7
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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.
Aug 31, 2023 | 6:13 pm
#8
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VA is not flying to PVG, India or Africa. They fly to DPS (like every Australian airline does) and have a 737MAX route to HND from CNS. They no longer have any widebody aircraft so if they ever returned to HKG, it would have to be on a 737MAX from somewhere up north in Australia.
Sep 6, 2023 | 10:17 am
#10
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How about listing passenger numbers by quarter from 2019 until now? With that large of a list, it seems like their numbers must be crazy low. Also AA's numbers must be much greater through Tokyo now since they're not going through HKG.
Sep 11, 2023 | 7:58 am
#11
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Passenger numbers were pretty nonexistent from March 2020-late 2022 due to pandemic-related long arrival quarantines and airline bans if they brought in infected passengers. That accounts for most of the departed airlines here, as well the difficulties and expense of getting services back up due to post-Covid labor shortages.
Sep 11, 2023 | 11:18 am
#12
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Looks like passenger numbers are currently half of what they were in 2018/2019. How do they get those back up? Can they? I wonder how hotel occupancy is in HK.
Source : https://www.hongkongairport.com/en/t...t-figures.page
Source : https://www.hongkongairport.com/en/t...t-figures.page
Sep 11, 2023 | 11:25 am
#13
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Looks like passenger numbers are currently half of what they were in 2018/2019. How do they get those back up? Can they? I wonder how hotel occupancy is in HK.
Source : https://www.hongkongairport.com/en/t...t-figures.page
Source : https://www.hongkongairport.com/en/t...t-figures.page
Some of the difficulties reconnecting are political, and not just HK politics - Russian airlines and Russian airspace also continue to be issues, particularly for US airlines flying from the East Coast.
Sep 17, 2023 | 11:24 am
#14
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One to add to the list of new airlines coming above...Vistara is starting flights from Delhi:
https://simpleflying.com/vistara-del...irbus-a321neo/
This is sort of a weird one though. Not only will Vistara be competing with Cathay, IndiGo, *and* Air India on this route, but it is adding routes even as the plan is to fold it into Air India next year. So wonder if there is *that* much demand from Delhi to HK and if this means higher frequency on Air India after the merger is complete.
https://simpleflying.com/vistara-del...irbus-a321neo/
This is sort of a weird one though. Not only will Vistara be competing with Cathay, IndiGo, *and* Air India on this route, but it is adding routes even as the plan is to fold it into Air India next year. So wonder if there is *that* much demand from Delhi to HK and if this means higher frequency on Air India after the merger is complete.
Sep 25, 2023 | 5:32 pm
#15
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Didn't see this one coming for a much longer period of time...Aeroflot returning:
https://tass.com/economy/1678601
I've heard rumors this has to do with them solving "insurance issues" on at least some of their planes opening up more destinations.
https://tass.com/economy/1678601
I've heard rumors this has to do with them solving "insurance issues" on at least some of their planes opening up more destinations.