Hong Kong Express enters next phase as its LCC launch nears: strategic growth, ancillary & branding

Hong Kong will welcome its first home based low-cost carrier on 27-Oct-2013 when Hong Kong Express re-launches as a LCC and over the next few weeks serves eight cities in China, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand. The transformation of the HNA-backed carrier occurred in a speedy five months. At first blush that may seem insignificant, but Hong Kong Express had been highly integrated with sister carrier Hong Kong Airlines. Those ties were largely cut as Hong Kong Express defined its own route network and handled its own distribution, marketing and staffing while re-configuring its fleet.

The tight timeframe meant Hong Kong Express had to forgo some strategic decisions. Implementing those while pursuing growth will now largely comprise the carrier's plans for the rest of 2013 and much of 2014. The carrier plans to introduce a new booking platform to provide a more robust offering from connections to ancillary revenue options.

Hong Kong Express will undergo a re-branding exercise, likely re-naming itself "HK Express". Much more prominent in the public domain, Hong Kong Express plans to more than double its destinations by northern summer 2014. More Chinese cities will be brought online as the carrier has the scale to absorb operational factors in China that are not conducive to efficiency.