ExclusiveFledgling Hong Kong carrier Greater Bay Airlines granted air operating certificate
- According to sources, move will allow ambitious carrier to launch charter flights while it awaits additional key licence necessary for its operations
- Airline is still waiting for a second permit, its air transport licence, to organise regularly scheduled flights
Hong Kong has awarded Greater Bay Airlines an air operating certificate (AOC), paving the way for the fledgling carrier to start flying passengers.
The Civil Aviation Department decision, confirmed late on Friday, allows the ambitious carrier to launch charter flights while awaiting an additional licence necessary for its operations, according to sources.
The carrier, which began its application to start flying passengers in July 2020, is led by former Cathay Dragon CEO Algernon Yau Ying-wah and many ex-airline colleagues.
“Upon completion of detailed and comprehensive assessment of the applicant’s competence and satisfied that he met [the bureau’s] requirements, the director general of civil aviation signed and issued the AOC to Greater Bay Airlines Company Limited in accordance with the established mechanism,” a department spokeswoman said.
The airline is still waiting for a second permit, its air transport licence, to organise regularly scheduled flights, in a decision pushed into 2022. But the AOC would confirm its formal status as an airline.