Hong Kong Airlines hopes to become a permanent fixture in Australian skies with the upgrade of its seasonal direct flights between Hong Kong and the Gold Coast to a year-round schedule.
The flights – which go via Cairns on the northbound leg to Hong Kong – were slated to finish at the end of March, but will now continue to run twice a week.
The new roster, which takes effect from March 27, sees the HX015 flight departing Hong Kong at 9.50pm every Tuesday and Saturday to reach the Gold Coast at 8.30am the next day.
It's a slightly longer trip back, with HX016 leaving the Gold Coast at 10am on Wednesday and Saturday for a 12.30pm touchdown at Cairns, where it'll spend a little over an hour before wheels-up at 1.45pm for a 7.10pm arrival into Hong Kong.
Previous | Hong Kong Airlines debuts its first Australian route this weekend with the launch of seasonal direct flights between Hong Kong and the Gold Coast/Coolangatta.
With an Airbus A330-300 aircraft, up to 32 business class passengers on each flight can enjoy fully-flat beds with direct aisle access from every seat... ... a choice of meals stemming from Chinese, Western, Japanese, vegetarian and other cuisines with inflight choices changing every two weeks... ... and a personal 15.5-inch inflight entertainment system with over 100 Hollywood blockbusters, international films and TV shows plus music selections and video games: On Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from January 8 2016 through March 31 2016, HX15 is wheels-up at 9:20pm in Hong Kong to arrive on the Gold Coast at 8:30am the following morning as a non-stop service, with business class passengers able to access the 'Charming Club Bauhinia' lounge at Hong Kong airport: On the return, HX16 pushes back at Coolangatta at 10:30am on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, but stops in Cairns at 12:45pm to collect extra passengers before continuing to Hong Kong at 1:55pm and reaching the airline's home hub at 7:10pm. “While this is an important first step, it is hoped that the success of the charter series will ultimately lead to a longer-term year-round scheduled service with Hong Kong Airlines into the Gold Coast,” said Gold Coast Tourism CEO Martin Winter. “These seasonal services have been secured thanks to a partnership between Gold Coast Tourism, Gold Coast Airport, Cairns Airport and Tourism and Events Queensland,” added Queensland Tourism Minister Kate Jones. While Qantas and Cathay Pacific both fly from Brisbane to Hong Kong, this would be the first regular service from the Gold Coast. Hong Kong Airlines also has 15 advanced Airbus A350 jets on order for delivery from 2018. Follow Australian Business Traveller on Twitter: we're @AusBT Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Jan 2014
Total posts 320
I can't get into this stopover in Cairns that this and other airlines are doing. I have had the pleasure of being stuck on the ground for way too,long on these stopovers in Cairns that drag on and on for one reason or another. If airlines want to offer a Cairns service then fine, but offer the flight direct in and out of Cairns.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
07 Feb 2015
Total posts 150
Given this is a seasonal service mainly targeting Chinese visitors during their peak travel period, I think it's more viable for the airline to have Cairns as a stop-over, as GC and Cairns are two major destinations for Chinese visitors, and many of them are groups. HX (owned by Hainan Airlines) probably worked with major Chinese travel agents first to secure group bookings before launching the route.
10 Dec 2015
Total posts 177
Then don't do it and avoid <<being stuck on the ground...in Cairns>>. Plenty of nonstop options leaving BNE/OOL for pretty much most of the key cities/hubs in E.Asia anyway.
<<...but offer the flight direct in and out of Cairns>>
But not every airline(In fact very few) has the level of mkt demand for CNS alone to fill a widebody(Japan by JetStar is possibly the only exception today) technically necessary to reach most parts of E.Asia nonstop....we're talking about a minimum of 7-8hrs sectors here.
The choices for airline's int'l network planning in QLD mkt are really simple especially for inexperienced newcomers like HK Air which has zero mkt awareness /op exposure in HK-Australia routes: Either
a) No CNS and only BNE/OOL or
b) Tag CNS with BNE/OOL to maximize geog coverage and chance of a reasonable load factor.
19 Aug 2011
Total posts 22
@FLX Since CX has already taken up all of the HK allocation of flights to BNE/SYD/MEL/PER, Hong Kong Airlines isn't able to fly to BNE. So the two options are really a) No CNS and just OOL (a la Scoot and Air Asia) and b) what they're planning on doing now.
10 Dec 2015
Total posts 177
Agree but since HK Air is targeting mostly leisure traffic(In fact, a seasonal op and charter-like frequency/fare level) for its 1st ever AU mkt entry, <<isn't able to fly to BNE>> is probably irrelevant to HK Air......OOL is likely superior to BNE anway in terms of leisure demand. Also:
1) I thought only SYD+MEL are capacity restricted while all other AU airports are unrestricted per current HK and AU bilateral.....may be I hv confused that with the bilaterals between AU and other nations?
2) OOL and BNE serve essentially a similar traffic catchment geog area. Correct me if I'm wrong, OOL and BNE are only about 1 hr dirve apart....a similar road travel duration between NRT and HND within the Greater Tokyo area or between PVG and SHA within the Greater Shanghai area.
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1029
The standard Australian bilateral limits weekly flights or seats to the 4 major ports (SYD/MEL/BNE/PER). Some agreements inculde AVV under the limit. All other international ports (eg, ADL, CBR, DRW, CNS, TSV, OOL) are unlimited.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
09 Dec 2014
Total posts 25
Not bad business class fares - $2200 for the below:
HX 16 15MAY OOLHKG 1030 1910
HX 15 21MAY HKGOOL 2120 0830 (+1)
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
29 Mar 2015
Total posts 94
if only they'd fly to darwin! a direct darwin HK would be bloody marvellous..... at least , tho' flying Darwin /cns/hk is an improvement on jetstar to sin and then HK, so a better, but...
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer Platinum
07 Feb 2013
Total posts 548
Keep dreaming!
29 Mar 2016
Total posts 1
Is there access to a lounge at Coolangatta for business class passangers?
Hi Guest, join in the discussion on Hong Kong Airlines boosts Gold Coast-Hong Kong flights