British Airways vows to re-establish presence in Hong Kong and other Asian markets as part of £7 billion transformation plan

British Airways to also reinstate direct flights to two key Asian destinations, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, as it presses ahead with its largest transformation plan yet

‘Asia is very important to us, and we’ll be looking to rebuild, back to and beyond what we used to have,’ airline CEO Sean Doyle says

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British Airways is also looking to invest in machine learning, automation and artificial intelligence to augment its operations. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:10pm, 5 Mar 2024Updated: 7:15pm, 5 Mar 2024

British Airways aims to re-establish its presence in Asian markets such as Hong Kong, mainland China and Japan in the coming years with new aircraft and enhanced services as part of the carrier’s £7 billion (HK$69.5 billion) transformation plan, the largest in its history.

The airline also revealed on Monday night at an event in London that direct flights between the UK’s capital and two key Asian destinations, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, would be respectively reinstated in October and November.

As of last December, British Airways was operating at 90.1 per cent of its 2019 capacity, partly as a result of the carrier’s decision to retire its jumbo jet fleet of Boeing 747-400s during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sean Doyle, the company’s CEO and chairman, said the carrier planned to use the mega-investment push to bring in new aircraft, boost capacity and up its game as a premium carrier.

“I’m gonna take a lot of long-haul planes over the next three years. It gives us the ability to look at expansion into China and other markets in the Far East,” he told the Post on the sidelines of the event showcasing the new British Airways initiatives.

“Asia is very important to us, and we’ll be looking to rebuild, back to and beyond what we used to have.”

Some markets in Asia such as Hong Kong, the mainland and Macau are still catching up in terms of recovery after opting to lift pandemic travel restrictions last year.