Hong Kong - Cathay Pacific allocates 16 aircraft to its subsidiary HK Express from an order of 32 Airbus A321neo.
With this move, Hong Kong's flag carrier wants to improve its share in the fast-growing low-cost market in the Asia-Pacific region. Cathay completed the acquisition of HK Express this year in July and paid HKD4.93 billion (USD628 million) for this takeover.
Cathay Pacific announced that its order for 32 Airbus A321neo jets will be distributed equally between its full-service subsidiary Cathay Dragon and budget operator HK Express.
The first 16 A321neo will be delivered to Cathay Dragon between 2020 and 2022. HK Express will take delivery of the remaining 16 aircraft from 2022.
HK Express is the fourth-largest airline in Hong Kong with a fleet of 24 A320 Family jets. It flies to 26 domestic and international destinations.
Cathay Dragon operates the second-largest airline of the city. It has a fleet of 48 aircraft and flies to 48 destinations across the Asia-Pacific region.
We will continue to invest in each of our airlines, their products, and services,” Tang said in a statement. “New aircraft are always the best platform to showcase our customer experience offerings,
said Augustus Tang Kin-wing, the CEO of the Cathay Pacific Group.
Cathay Pacific, The flag carrier order the Group, will receive Boeing’s 777X and 12 Airbus A350 planes by 2024 as it was previously planned.
The airline has been suffering from a sharp drop in demand for travel in and out of Hong Kong since the protests began against the local government and China in June.
Cathay is still committed to its long-term growth plans despite recent problems, and it fully expects passenger demand to rebound over the next five years,