HK Express plans for 50 aircraft in 2018 as it seeks all-new destinations for Hong Kong
Few low cost airlines have had route pickings as lucrative as those of HK Express. Although its hub airport of Hong Kong has significant slot restrictions and an underwhelming business reception to LCCs, there was significant pent-up demand. This was especially the case to markets in Northeast Asia, where LCC penetration remains lower than in Southeast Asia. HK Express' relaunch as an LCC in Oct-2013 fortuitously coincided with the depreciating Japanese yen and Korean won, further boosting outbound Hong Kong travel. In Feb-2016, 43% of HK Express' seats are to just three cities: Osaka, Seoul and Tokyo.
In Feb-2016 HK Express will operate 13 A320s but plans rapid growth to 50 by the end of 2018, effectively requiring the airline to take one aircraft every month for the next three years. HK Express plans to open four to six new markets in 2016, and at the end of the year will receive its first A320neo and A321ceo. Existing markets could expect additional capacity (frequency increase or replacing A320s with A321s). But as HK Express saturates core opportunities in existing markets, it will need to grow in the more classical LCC sense of stimulating demand in destinations largely new to Hong Kong. Already it plans to open new destinations around Southeast Asia (Laos, Myanmar) and the Pacific Islands (Guam, Saipan). Sister full service airline Hong Kong Airlines also plans to serve Saipan, highlighting the growing challenge of overlap between the two airlines, which do not have a defined dual brand strategy.
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