24 reviews
Happy Year of the Dragon & best wishes to everyone in 2024! As Chinese New Year approached, we planned another getaway from HK, this time to Sapporo.
HKG-CTS does not see many competitors, with only Hong Kong Airlines and Cathay Pacific operating this route. Both carriers fly this route yearly (despite Hokkaido being a lot more popular in the winter) but frequencies differ greatly throughout the year. Up to 21 weekly flights are operated in winter, and only around 8 weekly flights are operated in summer by the 2 carriers, both using widebodies.
Hong Kong Airlines (HX) was established in 2006 by Hainan Airlines to directly compete with Dragonair and Cathay Pacific with a fleet of A320s and A330s, offering competitive as a full-service carrier. The airline grew larger and was thriving, allowing them to add A350s to their fleet and launch long-haul flights to Vancouver, LAX, SFO etc.. For a few years, we all thought HX would be successful in breaking the monopoly of CX in the market.
However, their ambitious expansion plans proved to not work as they filed for bankruptcy in 2019. They shut down all long-haul flights & retired their fleet of A350s, stopped offering in-flight entertainment and hot meals to cut costs. At some point, they could only offer water to all passengers on their flights.
Just as we thought HX would have to be shut down due to its horrible finances, they managed to bounce back after covid. Now transforming into a Hybrid carrier, they adjusted their focus on holiday destinations (e.g. Phuket, Male) and smaller Japanese cities (e.g. Hakodate, Kumamoto, Kagoshima) with little to no competition. Fueled by the easing of restrictions and the post-covid tourism boom, HX was able to once again grow in size, tripling its fleet of A330s.
Charging 40% less than CX on this route, I will be taking a look at HX's offering between HKG & CTS. Online reviews on HX have been a mixed bag, so I didn't really know what to expect.
I have included some videos in this report too! Let me know if you like them.
I realised I never talked about how I get to HK Airport so…here you go! I always take the Airport Express as it's the most efficient and quick way for me to get to HKG from my home! It only costs around 8 USD per person and gets you to the airport from the heart of the city in 24 minutes.
We arrived at HKG at around 6:30am and got to aisle K, where HX's check-in counters are located. The whole airport was filled with red lanterns and CNY decorations.
There were lots of passengers queuing for check-in that morning, which was to be expected as most HX flights leave between 7am and 10am. Thankfully, with a co-branded credit card, we could skip the queue altogether and use the priority check-in desks, which saved us a lot of time.
Of course, HX is now a hybrid carrier, so they are very strict on bags. You do not get free checked bags on the lowest fare class, but you can bring 1 carry-on bag per person onboard. They weigh each bag and you're only allowed to bring your bag on board once it's checked and labelled "Cabin Approved".
We purchased 30 kilos of checked bags for all of us, at a reasonable price of around 500 HKD. Here's the checked bag allowance table for your reference. You can choose to purchase checked bags at the time of booking (which is the cheapest), before online check-in or at the airport (the most expensive, do not do this!)
Aeroflot :o They recently started flying to HKG once again with thrice weekly service on the A330.
Check-in took around 10 minutes and we then proceeded to security. It was fairly crowded as expected since it was the start of the holidays and lots of people were travelling. It took us around 15 minutes to get through, which I thought was pretty efficient and quick.
A full departure board! It was really nice to see how HK has been bouncing back from covid!
With still plenty of time before boarding to spare, we proceeded towards the sky deck & sky bridge for some planespotting.
Lots of Cathays, a JAL 787 and a CI A330 in this picture!
The sky bridge links the main terminal to the satellite terminal (which is made for narrowbodies). Spotted a Thai A320 here, and a few CX A321neos!
After some spotting, we left the satellite terminal and proceeded towards our boarding gate. HX uses the "Midfield Concourse" (i.e. Gates 201-230) at Hong Kong International Airport, which is quite far away and only accessible by train. Still better than Hong Kong Express & Greater Bay Airlines' bus gates…
More on the Midfield Concourse: it was only open in 2016 to accommodate more planes at HKIA, and even used to see airlines like Lufthansa and Virgin Australia! Sadly, with the latter shutting down their long-haul flights and the former moving to the main terminal, the Midfield Concourse is almost exclusively used by Hong Kong Airlines, HK Express and Greater Bay Airlines these days. There are also not many shops & things to do here, so I would advise against coming to the concourse too early.
Gate 216, our gate to Sapporo this morning. HX starts boarding a full 50 minutes before departure, which proved to be an effective strategy. Note how the Midfield Concourse doesn't have those fancy departure boards featured at the main concourse.
B-LHI, a 8.3 year old A330-300 will be taking us to Sapporo today! It has only arrived from Bangkok at 6am the same morning.
This particular unit has only been transferred from Hainan Airlines (海南航空, the airline group that founded HX and owned them until they were hit by financial troubles) in June of 2023 to help with HX's increase in capacity. As such, you will see lots of traces of its previous owner inside!
It's worth noting that HX added 6 A330s in 2023 alone to their fleet, proving how business is thriving! 5 of those (B-LHG, LHH, LHI, LHJ, LHL) came from Hainan and 1 was brought back from deep storage (B-LNR, which used to belong to Singapore Airlines). They're used on flights to Tokyo, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Seoul, Taipei, Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok, and even to Male.
It was time to board!
Walking into the cabin, you can see that HX has employed a very red colour scheme on its planes, which has been criticised by lots of people online. I personally don't mind such a colour scheme though.
Actually, HX has not changed the cabin configuration of their A330s when they got it from HNA, particularly since both airlines actually feature identical cabins on their A330s. (Kinda like how KA and CX had identical cabins on their A330s)
A closer look at the economy class seats onboard. These are pretty standard A330 seats with 31 inches of legroom and 18 inches of width.
Settling in, you can find an IFE screen, which has not been functional since December 2019 due to HX's financial troubles… (However, it worked later into the flight and I will explain why further when I introduce to you the IFE system)
An adjustable tray table
Inside the seat pocket is a safety card…
…and a magazine, the only source of entertainment available to all passengers.
Next to us is another Hong Kong Airlines A330, B-LHJ, ex-HNA aircraft as well. It was getting ready to depart for Taipei.
Hello there Cathay 747!
The captain came on the PA to welcome us onboard.
We soon started our push back at 08:39, 1 minute before the scheduled departure time.
Sitting on the right side meant views of HAECO (Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company)'s maintenance hanger. I managed to spot a Finnair A330 & Lufthansa A340. Lots of airlines actually send their planes to HAECO for C/D checks. Of course, their close ties with Cathay Pacific mean that all CX planes undergo maintenance here too!
We took off at 08:59. The weather at HKG wasn't that good that day.
And flew through the thick clouds covering HKG into the blue sky.
Before making a right turn out towards Taiwan & Japan.
As HX is now a hybrid carrier, they do not offer full hot meals anymore. Instead, they offer each passenger a light snack, which happened to be a Hong Kong style BBQ Pork Bun. Other drinks apart from the bottle of water are also available on request.
I got a cup of apple juice.
The bun wasn't that tasty. However, it was still early in the morning and I would've preferred to save my appetite for the tasty cuisine in Japan, considering how airplane breakfasts aren't usually tasty.
Ok so…here's where things get a little interesting. HX claims to have suspended their in-flight entertainment system, but if you're lucky (like me ;) ), you will get to enjoy some entertainment! As this plane is an ex-HNA aircraft, it still has the IFE system from Hainan Airlines.
Here's where things get more interesting: not every seat has access to the IFE. On this particular aircraft, the TVs of the front section of the economy class cabin were all locked, while most TVs at the back worked. Some online have mentioned that your TV will only work if it's "disconnected" from the main computer system, but I'm not too sure about the details. Anyway, don't expect any entertainment onboard BUT do appreciate it if your seat somehow has it!
You have to be lucky enough to be flying on an ex-HNA A330 (5 out of 9 A330s HX currently has are ex-HNA aircraft, which are the B-LH* series) with the right seat that has its screen disconnected from the main computer system.
Here's the selection. Considering that I did not expect the IFE to work, it has already exceeded my expectations by a lot.
There's also an IFE remote, which was very useful as the screen wasn't too touch-sensitive.
Traces of its previous owner HNA xD. The reason why this IFE system is only available in simplified, instead of traditional Chinese is because it's HNA's system once again.
It also had the Thales geofusion flight map…though the destination was incorrectly displayed as Hakodate instead of Sapporo. I also found it weird to
However, headphones were not provided. Without the right headphones (these planes have 2-pin connectors and I only brought my airpods), I could only stick to the games and the map offered by the system. Still, it was better than nothing and I definitely did not expect the system to work in the first place.
The system crashed mid-flight but thankfully restarted after 5 minutes or so.
Of course, I would definitely appreciate it if they re-added entertainment once their finances improve. Perhaps through wi-fi streaming capabilities to save cost in updating the system?
The crew on the flight were friendly, but a little tired. However, with HX being a hybrid carrier, I think they delivered what they were supposed to do in an efficient and friendly matter.
Towards the middle of the flight, I wandered around the cabin and was lucky enough to find the only completely empty row of 3 empty seats towards the back of the plane! Thus, I was able to enjoy "poor man's business class" & slept for the remainder of the flight.
Of course, I did not sleep that well considering this row is right next to the toilet & there's no pillow (I had to rest my head on the armrest). It was still better than nothing though!
When I woke up, we were already nearing Sapporo and entered Hokkaido from the South.
Would you just look at how beautiful the land of Hokkaido looks with all the snow!
We landed on runway 01R, a whopping 40 minutes early thanks to jetstreams, allowing us to hit speeds of up to 620 knots per hour.
Here's the landing video!
We crossed runway 01L, where an ANA 737 was taking off.
…to the international terminal, where an EVA B78X overtook us.
Unfortunately, as we were too early & this Air China A330 (which was occupying our gate) was delayed, we had to wait for 20 minutes on the tarmac until they left. Part of this though is to be blamed on CTS' tiny international terminal. With only 7 gates, it's very common for delays like these to happen.
We finally managed to dock & get off the plane.
and we were off to immigration.
Welcome to Hokkaido! It's interesting how the signs at CTS are in Russian as well :O
Our bags took nearly 30 minutes to be delivered, which I did not expect from CTS.
And we were off to take the "Airport Rapid" service to Sapporo to start our journey!
Overall, it was a decent flight onboard Hong Kong Airlines -- the cabin was comfortable & spacious and the crew were quite friendly as well.
For a 4 hour flight, I would certainly appreciate more food, but considering that HX is a hybrid carrier, I think they did a pretty good job in terms of catering already by offering a hot snack.
Entertainment is something they could work on -- it did exceed my expectations that the system was even on, but maybe they could consider re-adding IFE (or streaming entertainment?) when their finances are better?
On the whole, I do think that HX offers a superb & competitive product for what they are charging. You're definitely getting what you paid for, if not more on a hybrid carrier like HX. With their prices sometimes going even lower than low-cost carriers like HK Express, HX remains a great way to travel from A to B efficiently and in reasonable comfort.
I'm quite happy to see how they've come from going nearly bankrupt to where they are now and am quite confident in how they will perform in the future. Won't hesitate to fly HX again if the price is right!
6 Comments
For a flight that lasts more than 4 hours, I think Hong Kong Airlines should at least provide a complimentary hot meal. A snack is quite insufficient in this case, that's a thing they can improve on.
The good old times... I sure do hope that HX can recover and resume pretty much close to their pre-covid times.
Thanks for sharing!
I do agree with the meal situation, but considering what I'm paying, I'm good with a hot snack! You can bring your own food onboard if you wish, they made sure to state that very clearly on the website.
Hopefully, HX will bounce back to challenge the monopolistic aviation industry of HK!
And it's crazy that they STILL don't have the IFE turned back on since 2019!
Wow, this just makes them look bad and messy...it's really quite amazing that they're still around with so many problems. I guess the price has to be well below Cathay. Since the IFE has officially been discontinued due to lack of contracts and licensing, they really should ensure that none of the units work, even if they are ex-Hainan planes, they are registered to HX in HKG now. It just makes them look terrible to have some screens work and now others.
If HX claim to now be a "Hybrid" carrier---which just sounds like an excuse for their poor current state---then maybe they can consider charging for IFE, as some LCCs so. Or just get rid of it altogether and offer just streaming IFE to personal devices, as you mentioned.
I've flown HX in the past and have really fond memories of them--it's so disappointing to see how far they've fallen, but I guess they deserve credit for not having given up. But still...this kind of service is really kind of a joke in Asia with so many premium carriers around, especially in such a premium market as Hong Kong! They really need to come up with a better plan...either they're a low-cost carrier or they're not...this weird inconsistency is just confusing and damaging to a once very respectable brand, in my opinion.
I realise that there have been some very difficult circumstances in HK since even before Covid, and it's a difficult market in which to operate, but I really do hope HX figure this out soon before doing some permanent damage to their public image and risk disappearing altogether, especially since parent carrier HU haven't been doing well themselves financially.
Thanks very much for this look at the current state of HX...there are still good "bones" with the nice comfortable cabins and pleasant service, but it just looks like a zombie, neither alive nor dead.
With their focus & competitors now being LCCs like HK Express instead of premium airlines like CX, I do understand that their concern now is not to improve the passenger experience by any means but to simply expand their route network as soon as possible. However, I do agree with you that they're quite a messy airline, with horrible IT & management issues. Their website is half-operational at best and still gives vibes that they're bankrupt. I still find how they're a Skytrax 4-star airline a joke, but I guess this says a lot about Skytrax itself!
I have flown HX during the good old times as well and have found them to be again, a superb product for what I paid for. With their business fares being even cheaper than CX's economy class back in the day, I took advantage of them a few times on my earlier intra-Asia hops & enjoyed them a lot.
There have been more and more rumours about HX restarting meal service & IFE these days. Whilst not confirmed, I do hope they can make a comeback to their past glory as CX needs some competition to improve as well!
I must say that I've been quite loose when it came to scoring this time, but for what they charge, I think I got a decent value-for-money product. Had my trip been on their A320s with 29 inches of legroom, I doubt I would've said the same!
the price of HX really attracts people, but I still did not have a try on this airline... the image of the brand seems need time to rebuild, as i would still worry that the airline will suddenly go bankrupt after i buy the ticket from HX... lol
I wouldn't worry about them suddenly going bankrupt these days that much -- would still be a valid concern back in 2019 but now I think they're financially stable enough for me to fly on them. Just look at how quickly they added A330s to their fleet!
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