Myanmar carrier faces fresh competition on Hong Kong route from low-cost international

​Budget Hong Kong airline HK Express is competing with state carrier Myanmar National Airlines (MNA) on the Yangon-Hong Kong route, and will also start a two-month run flying to Mandalay.



HK Express general manager Sherman Luk (right) cuts a ribbon with Myanmar officials at the carrier’s launch ceremony on September 1. Photo: SuppliedHK Express general manager Sherman Luk (right) cuts a ribbon with Myanmar officials at the carrier’s launch ceremony on September 1. Photo: Supplied

HK Express started Hong Kong-to-Yangon return flights yesterday, which it will operate four days a week – Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

“The first flight is 90 percent full with Hong Kong people excited to explore Myanmar,” said Sherman Luk, general manager of HK Express.

The low-cost carrier will compete with fellow Hong Kong airline Dragon Air, Malaysia’s AirAsia and Myanmar’s MNA, which all operate the same route.

“It will have some impact [on our business],” said Captain Than Tun, chief executive of MNA, which only restarted international flights in 2015 after two decades of domestic operations. The carrier is already facing difficulties competing with more established foreign airlines for international traffic, he added.

“We haven’t had much time to prepare to compete with our peers because we’re still rebuilding the airline,” he said. MNA is in the middle of a corporatisation process that will eventually see it operate as a private company.

MNA flies to Hong Kong from Yangon four times a week in the low season and operates daily flights in peak tourist season, Capt Tun added.

HK Express will also start return flights from Hong Kong to Mandalay on September 5, and will run those flights twice a week, Mr Luk said. The firm will be the only carrier offering direct flights from Mandalay to Hong Kong, but is only operating the route until October 28.

Kayley So, a public relations officer for HK Express, would only say that “operational reasons” were behind the two-month window for Mandalay flights. But the airline will “explore any opportunity to operate the Mandalay-Hong Kong route in the future”, she said.

HK Express will be the third international airline to start Mandalay flights within the space of a week. MNA began thrice-weekly Mandalay-Bangkok flights on August 31, and Myanmar Airways International (MAI), the only other international carrier in Myanmar, started its own Mandalay-Bangkok flights yesterday.

Daw Aye Mra Tha, MAI’s head of marketing and public relations, said that the airline has applied to offer a direct flight to Kolkata, but was not looking at Hong Kong.

“There aren’t many passengers flying Yangon to Hong Kong,” she said. “It’s more a seasonal flight during Chinese New Year and the Myanmar Gems Emporium [in June].”

Source : MYANMAR TIMES