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Muhammad Firdaus

Hong Kong Airlines (HX/CRK) to fly direct to Kuching (KCH/WBGG) in April, 2016

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Took HX715 HKG-KCH earlier today and was pleasantly surprised that the flight was almost full. Most pax appears to be tour groups from HK. This is in contrary to the same flight I took in June, where tour groups from mainland China made up majority of the pax. Food is pretty decent too...

 

So you have left HK for good? Bon Voyage mate.

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Took HX715 HKG-KCH earlier today and was pleasantly surprised that the flight was almost full. Most pax appears to be tour groups from HK. This is in contrary to the same flight I took in June, where tour groups from mainland China made up majority of the pax. Food is pretty decent too...

So it is like a semi-charter flight...

 

As long as there are tour groups using the service, they have a base load. So it is looking good - but what if the tours start to dry up? Will there still be enough pax to sustain the service?

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Problem is there is hardly any advertising or promo seen at both ends.

 

Passengers can actually connect to Europe and East Asia on HX and likewise if passengers are looking for a trip to Mulu...they have the option of flying HX via HKG....Unfortunately there is nothing...no banners...no promo...no social media...to advertise HX...

Edited by Kenneth Chong WT

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Thanks SV! :) Kenneth, I'm leaving HK for good, contract ends this August...

 

If the tours dries up, my guess is the route will go very soon. Saw it on the local paper today that the ministers are very happy with the load and reckoned the service will soon be expanded to 4x per week. Not quite sure how true is... I also haven't seen much promotion in HK so far. HX has been heavily promoting their recently launched Tokyo / Osaka service and the upcoming Gold Coast / Cairns / Auckland service... by comparison they're keeping the Kuching route very quiet.

Edited by H C Chai

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Thanks SV! :) Kenneth, I'm leaving HK for good, contract ends this August...

 

If the tours dries up, my guess is the route will go very soon. Saw it on the local paper today that the ministers are very happy with the load and reckoned the service will soon be expanded to 4x per week. Not quite sure how true is... I also haven't seen much promotion in HK so far. HX has been heavily promoting their recently launched Tokyo / Osaka service and the upcoming Gold Coast / Cairns / Auckland service... by comparison they're keeping the Kuching route very quiet.

 

Same here, I have only seen their heavy promotions in HK on Gold Coast, Cairns, Auckland, Tokyo/ Osaka and Hanoi service. Not even a word about KCH.

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Same here, I have only seen their heavy promotions in HK on Gold Coast, Cairns, Auckland, Tokyo/ Osaka and Hanoi service. Not even a word about KCH.

 

They did mention a bit on FB for Kuching. Like the cat museum, rainforest festival...

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While the frequency remains twice a week, HX has upgraded the aircraft to this route with wide body aircraf, using A330-300. The fare seems rather more expensive now.

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This HNA Group gives the impression they are very quick in their decisions - anywhere not making money and it's bye bye

I remember when they dropped HKG-BKI like a hot potato too !

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This HNA Group gives the impression they are very quick in their decisions - anywhere not making money and it's bye bye

I remember when they dropped HKG-BKI like a hot potato too !

LCCs don't have the luxury of bleeding routes - they have to be ruthless and if a route does not perform, its gone!

 

Since quite a number of airlines have failed to make KCH work, we should look at the reasons why. I offer a few here:

  1. Lack of tourist attractions in KCH and surrounding areas
  2. Poor infrastructure for travelling to places (e.g. Mulu Caves) outside KCH
  3. Lack of local support - KCH folks don't travel that much, either on business or for holidays
  4. International routes are not to destinations where there is good demand
  5. Poor tourist promotion of the state

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Sarawak is very rich in natural resources but the wealth is concentrated in tiny number of people. Hence, most have low disposable income and demand is not surprising poor like Brunei.

Edited by KK Lee

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Nothing much to visit in KCH to be honest. I have some friends from Oman and Finland when it comes to Malaysia they've heard of,Penang and even KK Sandakan heck they even flew to KK on MAS a couple of times on their sem breaks. Once they were interested for some cave exploring told them Sarawak has some but they said nothing much is close nearby compared to the other cities in Malaysia.

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What a shame, I guess there is just not enough demand from both sides to make the direct flight feasible. The fact that poor timing and lack of advertising from HX also didn't help...

 

This is a stepback for STA... maybe they can approach Qatar Airways and ask them to fly Doha - Kuching direct with their A319LR? :D

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Do we know what's the MoU between STB and HX? According to the report, it was supposed to be 3 years service minimum like a 3 years contract. So if the flight suspension is within the contract period, there will be penalty imposed?

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