I’ve had quite a close relationship with Hong Kong Airlines, and have always been fond of their well-constructed shorthaul network. I’ve been fortunate enough to fly their A330 between Hong Kong and Osaka, and have also been invited to tour their newest A350, which I’ve found to be a very nice aircraft, both inside and out.

Unfortunately Hong Kong’s dismal financial situation brought some of the shortcomings out of Hong Kong Airlines, including their somewhat confusing longhaul network, and some of their internal financial instabilities. I’m finally off university exam period, and figured I’d share some of my thoughts, as I really do wish the airline well.

Continue reading “Hong Kong Airlines’ Concerning Financial Situation: My Thoughts On Their Next Steps” →

In 2017, Hong Kong Airlines began flying to the U.S., which was an exciting development. At the time American Airlines hadn’t started flying between Hong Kong and Los Angeles yet, so Cathay Pacific more or less had a monopoly on that route. Cathay Pacific also had a joint venture with Air Canada, so Hong Kong Airlines gave them some competition.

Unfortunately amidst Hong Kong’s deepest recession in a long time, Hong Kong Airlines has announced that they will no longer fly to the U.S. as of February 8, 2020.

Continue reading “Oof: Hong Kong Airlines Cuts U.S. Flights, Reduces Service To 10 Destinations” →

Hong Kong Airlines has long been investing in their hard product, and they’ve been getting better and better. I had the chance to fly them around Easter last year, and thought they were solid, if not fantastic. Hong Kong Airlines has also been expanding rather nicely over the past couple of years, and now flies to destinations on the West Coast such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Vancouver. Rumour is that they’ll start flying to New York soon, which I’d really look forward to.

Hong Kong Airlines Airbus A330 Business Class Cabin

While most of Hong Kong Airlines’ routes afford a quite comfortable product, there’s one route that features a product that has, unfortunately, fallen behind the times. Hong Kong Airlines currently runs one of their oldest planes to Auckland, New Zealand, and they had no plans to upgrade their product on the route, which made me quite curious.

Continue reading “Hong Kong Airlines Ends Subpar Auckland Service” →

I love good airline branding, as it represents what I love about airlines. Airlines have – or are at least supposed to have the unique opportunity to show a certain country’s culture off to its passengers. This makes flying fifth-freedom flights or one-stop itineraries especially fun (say, flying Egyptair from Hong Kong to Bangkok or Qatar Airways from Hong Kong to Munich through Doha), as it exposes you to a culture that you otherwise wouldn’t be visiting.

Airlines have many opportunities to do this – through their cabin design, their service elements, and their food. Obviously there are more opportunities to do this in premium cabins than in economy, but there’s a huge opportunity for airlines to potentially get creative in economy, which most airlines waste. Specifically, that’s through food.

On Tuesday Hong Kong Airlines invited me to have a look at their new economy menu. My expectations weren’t high, but I quickly realised that their new economy class catering is exactly what I’m looking for with airline maximising their culture immersion opportunities.

Here are the Hong Kong options on offer:

Continue reading “YASS – Hong Kong Airlines’ New Economy Meals Show They Understand Their Brand” →