Exclusive | Hong Kong’s Greater Bay Airlines, tethered by air licence delay, now targeting first-quarter 2022 launch
- In exclusive interview, CEO Algernon Yau tells the Post that leasing costs on airplanes ‘add up to million of dollars each month’
- But city’s newest carrier remains ‘cash healthy’, he says, while suggesting Cathay playing pandemic card in bid to ground competitors
Hong Kong’s Greater Bay Airlines has postponed its anticipated launch to the first quarter of 2022 after its air licence bid hit turbulence in recent days, prompting its CEO to warn the delay is putting unnecessary cost pressures on the business.
The fledgling carrier, which aims to be one of the newest airlines to emerge from the ashes of Covid-19, remains keen to launch quickly, but is hamstrung by a key licence being held up by “process and procedure”, dashing plans for a launch in the fourth quarter of this year.
“Aircraft leasing costs are heavy and add up to millions of dollars each month. With more aircraft coming, the burden becomes heavier, plus overhead and staff cost is adding pressure,” the airline’s chief executive Algernon Yau Ying-wah told the Post in an exclusive interview.
Yau said he now expected the carrier’s launch to be shifted from its original target to the first quarter of next year.
“Despite that, we are cash healthy. The sooner we can start operations, it will help bring in revenue to level the expenses,” he said.
