Hong Kong Airlines to serve Cairns and Gold Coast with year-round flights

Hong Kong Airlines is currently restricted to secondary Australian destinations such as the Gold Coast, Cairns and Darwin as Cathay Pacific has utilised all available traffic rights for Hong Kong-based carriers to the four major Australian ports of Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney under the current bilateral air services agreements between the two countries.

A recent CAPA – Centre for Aviation research note said Gold Coast was “arguably the most attractive” of the available options, given the recent charters to the popular south Queensland destination from the likes of China Southern and Cathay.

“Hong Kong Airlines will need to test the market and ensure it can gain the necessary yields, especially outside peak periods, functioning more as charters,” CAPA said on July 13 2015.

“But ultimately Hong Kong Airlines will need access to major markets, Sydney especially.

“Relying on secondary markets in Australia effectively means restricting itself to leisure demand, and often from low yielding groups. Access to major cities brings higher yielding passengers as well as those looking to combine cosmopolitan Australia (Melbourne, Sydney) with a nature/sun component of the trip (Cairns, Gold Coast).”

Cathay offers year-round service to Cairns from its Hong Kong hub, while the oneworld alliance member has also served the Gold Coast with charter flights during the Chinese New Year period.