bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Hongkong Airlines pledged yesterday to cut luxury air fares to London in half when its new all-business-class service takes off in March.
The flights, on the first of three Airbus 330-200s to be deployed, will have 98 business class and 18 first class seats.
The airline believes the flat-bed seats that once cradled investment bankers in comfort on the long flight can now lure affluent holidaymakers from the mainland and Hong Kong.  
'We believe traditional executive travellers in the business cabin have dropped off and will never come back to their previous level, especially from Europe and the United States,' said airline spokeswoman Eva Chan. 'However, the pleasure and leisure travellers from the mainland have shown a growing appetite for premium traffic in light of the growth of China's economy.' 
Chan said Hongkong Airlines' business class fare would be about double the full fare for economy class, which make it  nearly HK$20,000. 
The airline, controlled by the mainland's HNA Group, said 60 per cent to 70 per cent of  its passengers were from the mainland. 
It projects that the new route to London will have a similar proportion of mainland passengers on board. 
 Five airlines fly the  Hong Kong-London route - Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Qantas and Air New Zealand. But all of them operate full-service flights with all three classes of travel on board. 
Their business class seats - which account for about 10 per cent of the total seats but contribute more than 60 per cent of revenue - are normally priced at three to four times the cost of the full fare in economy class.  
Airlines usually rely on business class to compensate for the lower fares in economy, especially for group tickets and discount tickets in the low season. 
Hongkong Airlines will be able to halve the fares on its new service due to the higher average ticket price, with all tickets being sold at business or first class levels. 
'We just want to provide an affordable price for premium traffic while providing top-class service,' said Chan. 'We are not a budget airline.'
The carrier operates 14 passenger aircraft and four cargo freighters. It will take delivery of 15 aircraft by the end of next year. Its Airbuses are being renovated in Toulouse, France.
24
The number of business class passengers normally accommodated in an A330-200 in a 2-2-2 configuration



Airline means business with half-price luxury seats