Hong Kong’s Greater Bay Airlines to launch first scheduled commercial flight to Bangkok in July, fleet expansion plans on hold amid Covid border measures
- Chief Algernon Yau tells Post carrier ‘cannot wait too long’ to get planes up in the sky
- Fledgling airline was set up in the middle of pandemic and has faced delays and hiring challenges, but ‘remains healthy’ with financial backing from tycoon Bill Wong
Hong Kong-based carrier Greater Bay Airlines is set to launch its first scheduled commercial flight to Bangkok next month, with the company delaying fleet expansion amid continued border control measures between the city and mainland China.
“We need to start operations next month. We can’t wait too long. We have to get aircraft up in the sky. It may not be making profits, but we need to show people we are committed,” chief executive Algernon Yau Ying-wah said in an interview with the Post at his office on Lantau Island on Tuesday.
The airline is planning to roll out two chartered flights to Bangkok on July 9 and 16, with its first scheduled service to the Thai capital on July 23. The chartered flights will operate through travel agents, who will book tickets and sell them to leisure travellers at a package price of about HK$20,000 (US$2,548) per person covering the air ticket, hotel booking and seven days of quarantine upon return.
The launch of its flights will be in the same month as July 1 celebrations in Hong Kong marking the 25th anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese rule. An attempt last year to take off on National Day on October 1 failed after licensing delays.
Starting a new airline in the middle of a pandemic has been fraught with challenges, with the carrier scaling back on staff hires and fleet expansion, but Yau said being small and agile meant his company had been able to be flexible in these uncertain times.