That never happened because it did not have a licence. A licensing hearing is scheduled for December. Hong Kong Airlines is the city's only other commercial passenger airline that does not belong to the Cathay group. It has been limping along since its parent, Chinese conglomerate HNA Group, buckled under a pile of debt at the start of the pandemic. Greater Bay Airlines is also unable to generate any cash at present because it cannot sell tickets.
Other details surrounding the airline's financing are scant and Mr Yau did not elaborate. There is also the question mark over Hong Kong's future as an international aviation hub if the city's strict quarantine measures do not change. Although Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam pledged that the city would retain that title in her annual policy address on Oct 6, most travellers entering the financial hub still need to spend as long as 21 days isolating in a hotel.
Despite the difficulties of the pandemic and Hong Kong's Covidzero approach, Greater Bay Airlines could benefit from its timing, with cheaper aircraft, less congested landing slots and plenty of available pilots, according to Mr Brendan Sobie, a Singapore-based consultant at Sobie Aviation.
Another factor going in Mr Wong's favour is his ties to the mainland. The businessman is a member of China's key political advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Mr Yau said Hong Kong-Beijing would be a fitting first route. But what it isn't - it's not linked to China as much. Mr Yau said Greater Bay Airlines will be a "value carrier", somewhere between a budget airline and a full-service one. Planes will not have seat-back televisions and customers will be encouraged to use an app to customise their journey before boarding, including ordering food from McDonald's, for example, or premium whisky to be served in-flight.
Join ST's Telegram channel here and get the latest breaking news delivered to you. We have been experiencing some problems with subscriber log-ins and apologise for the inconvenience caused. Until we resolve the issues, subscribers need not log in to access ST Digital articles. But a log-in is still required for our PDFs. Skip to main content. Share gift link below with your friends and family. Their main goal was to fly much-needed goods from Australia into post-war China.
This was done with their first aircraft, a Douglas DC-3 nicknamed Betsy. According to Culture Trip , the founders moved the airline to Hong Kong after the first few months of operation. Stay informed: Sign up for our daily and weekly aviation news digests. In the past decade, this has been achieved with the acquisition of the Airbus A The airline would go on to expand its order to include the stretched A The single-aisle jets were to be operated by Cathay Dragon, the regional carrier of the Group which was founded in A full subsidiary of the Cathay Pacific Group, the low-cost carrier continues to operate under its own name and distinct branding.
Unfortunately, Cathay Dragon would be a victim of the ongoing global health crisis, with Cathay Pacific shutting down the subsidiary in October of and merging most of its operations into the mainline brand. Have you flown with Cathay Pacific before? What was your earliest flight with the carrier?
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