Flights at Cathay Pacific budget carrier HK Express ‘back to pre-pandemic levels by Friday’, airline seeks 500 staff as it ramps up services

Low-cost carrier took delivery of the first of 16 narrow-body Airbus A321neo aircraft on Wednesday
HK Express is looking to expand network and aims to hire 180 pilots and more than 300 cabin crew by the end of the year

Cathay Pacific

Laura Westbrook

Published: 6:41pm, 29 Mar 2023

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The number of flights operated by Cathay Pacific Airways’ budget airline, HK Express, will return to pre-pandemic levels by Friday and it plans to hire around 500 staff this year, its boss has said, as it ramps up services to meet demand following the lifting of pandemic restrictions.

The low-cost carrier received the first of 16 narrow-body Airbus aircraft on Wednesday, with HK Express chairman and Cathay CEO Ronald Lam Siu-por calling it a “pivotal moment” for the group following three years of tough Covid-19 rules.

HK Express is looking to expand its network and aims to hire 180 pilots and more than 300 cabin crew by the end of this year.

HK Express marks the arrival of the new Airbus A321neo. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Lam said the carrier’s service frequency would return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the month with more than 400 flights per week and 500 by the summer to around 22 destinations.

“We will exceed 30 destinations by the end of this year. We will keep on expanding and we will put an emphasis on the mainland China market and hope to increase destinations,” Lam said.

The new Airbus A321neo aircraft’s maiden flight will be to Bangkok on April 2, with the remainder of the single-aisle jets delivered over the next two years.

HK Express currently has a fleet of 27 aircraft, flying to 17 destinations, including six in Japan.

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific predicts 50 per cent of pre-Covid capacity by month’s end

Cathay, the city’s flagship carrier, aims to operate at 50 per cent of its pre-pandemic passenger capacity by the end of March and hit 70 per cent by year-end. Meanwhile, regional rival Singapore Airlines Group reached 71 per cent of its pre-pandemic passenger levels in February.

Hong Kong ditched all Covid-related curbs for international passengers in December, and fully resumed quarantine-free travel with the mainland last month. The number of visitors to the city in February exceeded 1 million for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

HK Express currently has a fleet of 27 aircraft. Photo: Winson Wong

Lam said he was “hopeful” the group would return to profit this year, after posting a HK$6.5 billion (US$828 million) loss for 2022, 18.5 per cent higher than the year before.

Among the challenges for airlines are hiring pilots and cabin crew, with HK Express facing competition for talent. Emirates Airlines, for instance, will hold a pilot recruitment fair on Thursday and Friday in Hong Kong.

Lam said HK Express would look at Hong Kong and overseas for pilots, and believed that a growing low-cost carrier with promotion opportunities would bring in talent.

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific posts loss of HK$6.5 billion for 2022

He also brushed aside concerns over competition from ambitious newcomer Greater Bay Airlines, which plans to operate 104 routes, including 48 to the mainland, in the next five years. It recently placed an order for 15 Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft – with the first to be delivered next year.

Lam said a supply and demand imbalance meant airfares were higher than pre-pandemic levels although the low-cost carrier’s growth model was based on affordable prices.

“As we add more flights, I believe the fare levels will be trending towards normal quite quickly,” he added.

The airline will operate 400 flights a week by the end of March. Photo: Winson Wong

HK Express has resumed flights to Ningbo, currently its only destination on the mainland, but CEO Mandy Ng Kit-man said the market across the border was “huge and full of potential” for growth.

Ng will take on the role of director of service delivery at Cathay and will be succeeded by Jeanette Mao Jie-qiong at HK Express on April 1.

Japan last month removed Covid-related restrictions on the number of inbound flights each carrier could operate from Hong Kong. The curbs, brought in at the end of December, resulted in hundreds of flights being cancelled. The easing means the airline will resume adding more flights to the country.

Japan and South Korea lift restrictions on flights arriving from Hong Kong

Cathay is also looking to expand its fleet, with another 32 aircraft ordered for delivery between the start of this year and 2028 on top of the 16 for HK Express. As of the end of 2022, Cathay and HK Express had 207 aircraft.

On Cathay’s plans to acquire more Airbus aircraft, Lam said: “As the three-runway system [in Hong Kong] becomes fully operational from 2025. we will look into further investment … we will make an announcement in due course in that regard.”