Cheap flights from Hong Kong?

[reader]

NOTE -- The link contains a brief video of the giant new airport under construction in Beijing that features seven runways.

 

Excerpts from South China Morning Post

 

Issue has long dogged Cathay Pacific amid intense price war in Asia, as low-cost carriers chip away at market share and Middle Eastern and Chinese airlines lure travellers with cheaper long-haul tickets

 

Will Cathay Pacific Airways launch a budget airline or won’t they? Hong Kong’s flagship airline once again faced this question at the aviation industry’s annual summit in Sydney last week.

 

Its CEO Rupert Hogg was cautious: “We are not blinkered in looking at all of these [low-cost] models and how they are developing. We can learn the lessons from them if there are lessons to be learned.

 

“We’ll make that decision if and when we get to a point where we can execute against it and we think it’s the right one.”

 

This issue has long dogged Cathay amid an intense price war among airlines in Asia, as low-cost carriers chip away at their market share and Middle Eastern and Chinese airlines lure travellers with cheaper long-haul tickets.

 

Cathay Pacific says it would not think about adding a new budget carrier until at least 2024 by the time the third runway is ready at Hong Kong International Airport. Until such a time, the airport is all but full to add more new flights. In 2017, the airport handled 73 million travellers.

 

Some full-service airlines have launched budget carriers to woo new travellers and cater to price-conscious ones, while preserving their premium brand.

 

But earlier this year, Cathay chairman John Slosar referred to advice he received from a former United Airlines’ CEO and said he was convinced the airline should look at how to compete better rather than “go down the path of setting up all these different airlines”.

 

On the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) conference in Australia, Hogg said Cathay had been closely watching the response to budget airlines globally and “whether they gain market share, whether they are making money”.

 

With Cathay now carrying as many as 438 people per flight on routes also served by budget carriers, Hogg was asked whether this meant it would always prefer larger planes to maximise its take-off and landing slot at busy airports. Budget carriers typically use planes that can carry up to 186 passengers.

 

Cathay is also keenly aware of the need to woo a new generation of passengers.

 

IATA expects 7.8 billion people to travel in 2036, double today’s number. More than half of that growth will come from the Asia-Pacific region, with 2.1 billion new passengers taking to the skies, increasing the market size to 3.5 billion travellers.

 

Asia’s two biggest low-cost airlines, Air Asia and Jetstar earned HK$3.1 billion and HK$2.48 billion in the most recent financial years respectively. Air Asia also flew 39 million passengers in 2017, some 5 million more than Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon combined.

 

“There is always going to be the challenge anywhere where infrastructure opens up where you have new capacity available at one end but you have got to have capacity available at the other end in terms of the route,” Hogg said.

 

To illustrate his point, he highlighted Beijing’s mega Daxing International airport set to open next year. When airlines move there, it does not mean they can add on extra flights to popular international destinations, as it depends on capacity at the end point.

 

On the upside though, Hogg said Asia was ahead of others in building airport infrastructure.

“The key is to keep building in front of the curve. And Asia has a better track record than other parts of the world,” Hogg said.

 

Continues with videos

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/2150113/cheap-flights-hong-kong-cathay-pacific-again-faces

 

P.S. The current edition of Aviation Week reports that LCC Norwegian is hemorrhaging cash and is now a prime takeover target.

[Guest abang1961]

Isn't Dragon Air a subsidiary of Cathay Pacific?

 

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High-speed rail from Hong Kong, China is going to commence within a couple of months.

It should cut down traveling time but the price will continue to be a major hindrance.

There are several smaller/cheaper airlines  - Spring, Macau Ai et al.

With so many mainlanders, airplanes and trains are filled to the brim during that crazy Spring Festival. May Day and National Day period.  

 

For Thailand, the invasion starts this week as all mainland schools will be taking their summer break till 1st week of September.  So we may have to fight for good seats (somehow a specialty of the Chinese mainlanders to cut queue and jump to the front of the line) in tourist spots, shopping malls and of course, bars.

[fedssocr]

I believe it's been re-branded Cathay Dragon

[PeterRS]

Just noticed this thread. Yes, Cathay Dragon is the new(ish) name for Dragonair.

 

I reckon the comparison between Air Asias passenger numbers with those of Cathay and Cathay Dragon is pointless. Both the Hong Kong airlines are full service carriers offering in most cases an extensive business class in addition to coach seating, and on some aircraft first class. So relatively it can not pack as many seats into a plane as a low cost carrier. Emirates has recently got rid of first class and about 16 business class seats on some of its A380s. Presumably the old configuration was not selling well. That drop of 38 premium seats has been replaced by 130 coach seats. So those A380s now cary 615 passengers.

 

Air Asia flies probably 90% of flights short haul. CX flies some short haul, some medium and a great deal of long haul services. You can pack around 700 into a 777 for the 2x16 hour legs of a flight to n from New York. In the time it takes for that one aircraft to make the round trip (including its turn around time), one Air Asia aircraft will probably have completed at least 12 flights with over 2,000 passengers.

 

Im not sure about flights ex HKG. But CX flights ex BKK are not necessarily much more expensive than the budget carriers provided you book well ahead. And if you want a full service flight to HKG, there is still the daily Emirates A380 with a fare of 7,760 baht return. That fare gives you a great aircraft with a full 3 course meal and a full baggage allowance at no extra cost. Take Air Asia and the price including baggage and a one hot dish meal selection and the price is 7,290 baht. 

 

CX and TG fares are higher, since they have many daily flights covering the route. Both along with Emirates and other full service carriers are part of the international alliances and many fares offer miles and loyalty points. Again, little comparison.