Hong Kong Express Airways has commenced a three-times weekly open-charter service to the Philippines as it targets large numbers of overseas workers from Philippines along with up to 40 million Chinese tourists that visit the country annually.
The service will run for the next three months between Hong Kong and Clark’s Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) using a B737-800 aircraft. At the formal launch of the service, Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) executive vice president Alexander Cauguiran said the new service to Clark ¡°demonstrates the viability of the DMIA as our country’s premier international gateway and a hub of operations of regional carriers¡±.
The DMIA passenger terminal is presently being expanded in a bid to modernise facilities due to the growing demand in the airline industry with the new terminal capable of handling up to 2 million passengers annually, compared with the 500,000 passengers currently. Construction of the Terminal 2 project will start by the middle of this year, further increasing capacity to 7-8 million passengers annually. The project is expected to be completed by 2009.
Carriers currently operating at DMIA include: Tiger Airways, Air Asia, Asiana Airlines, along with domestic carriers Cebu Pacifi c, Asian Spirit and SouTheast Asian Airlines (SeaAir).
Meanwhile, the carrier has also been busy adding a second scheduled service to Japan following the introduction of direct flights to Okinawa in May. The new three times weekly direct flight between Hong Kong and Kagoshima ¨C located on the south-western tip of the Kyushu island – is the only direct service between the two cities.
The launch follows just days after the airline’s introduction of chartered services to Okayama and precedes the commencement of scheduled direct services to Hiroshima. Hiroshima will be the airline’s third scheduled service between Hong Kong and Japan, and will operate twice weekly.
The flurry of new services is part of Hong Kong Express Airways’ drive to capture a slice of the Japanese market following liberalisation of the country’s air traffic policy earlier this year.
