Yesterday I wrote about Hong Kong Airlines is struggling to pay staff their November salaries on-time. This doesn’t really come as much of a surprise, as the airline has been struggling financially for quite a while, and the current situation in Hong Kong has only made things worse.
Well, today the airline announced even further cuts, including that they’re cutting their very last long haul route.
As Hong Kong Airlines describes it, they’ve been reviewing their network strategy and are focused on “operating priority routes under the challenging business environment caused by the ongoing social unrest in Hong Kong.”
So, what’s changing? Most significantly, Hong Kong Airlines will end flights between Hong Kong and Vancouver as of February 10, 2020.
This will mark Hong Kong Airlines’ last long haul route. The airline has already cut their flights to San Francisco, and has already announced that they’re cutting flights to Los Angeles as of early 2020.
The airline used to fly to Australia and New Zealand, but also cut those routes. That leaves Hong Kong Airlines as a purely regional airline.
While not as significant, Hong Kong Airlines has also announced that they’re cutting flights to Ho Chi Minh City as of February 20, 2020, and flights to Tianjin as of February 10, 2020.
The airline has grounded nearly a dozen planes, so it will be interesting to see what happens from here.
With things in Hong Kong not improving significantly, and with the quiet winter travel season ahead, one has to wonder if Hong Kong Airlines’ days are numbered…
HX suspending in-flight entertainment on 1-Dec.
https://m.mingpao.com/fin/instantf2.php?node=1575114437930&issue=20191130
(In Chinese)
I'm booked on them from the Maldives in May. So far it hasn't been canceled. That is a 7 hour flight, which is still long haul in my book.
Have recently flown with Hong Kong Airlines a few times. Their business class seats were extremely dirty and on every plane we took and there were always a handful of seats with broken TV, headphone jack, and/or other maintenance problems.
Their maintenance is extremely worrying.
Looks like VA (part owned by HX parent HU) may have to rely on the new JV with VS and NH in HKG for connection on the SYD-HKG considering the end is near for HX.
@Angie W
I should think that PVG will hold. HKG-PVG is one of the most profitable routes in their network.
Yet another airline shut down this week - AtlasGlobal in Turkey. Check out the solitary page that's up on their website
https://www.atlasglb.com/en/
I'm flying them from Shanghai to Hong Kong next week. Now I'm worried...
Have you heard about AtlasGlobal Airlines (Turkey) stopping all operations and ticket sales?
Is HNA's financial situation really that bad? Not even that long ago they were buying lots of 787s and buying properties across the world.
@Michael F, CX is 30% owned by the most patriotic airline in China, CA. They got rid of the "infidels" during the last purge, this will then make them the most patriotic airline in the pathetic place.
@beyounged, as China regards Cathay as unpatriotic, I would not be surprised if they find another mainland conglomerate to move in quickly.
ah, so it has begun.
Just really hope some competition stems out of this. As much as I think CX is doing relatively well for their customers, for the sake of my wallet I surely hope they do not own all top 4 carriers in HKG.
Lucky, the South China Morning Post is reporting that the Air Transport Licensing Authority is considering revoking the operating certificate of Hong Kong Airlines due to their financial situation...
Apparently the HK govt has already started asking other carriers to plan for absorbing Hong Kong Airlines passengers over the Xmas travel period if they fold.... looks like the end is near
Shit. I felt bad about them not paying their staff so yesterday I booked a round-trip YVR-HKG in J. Will I get a refund?