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Air Hong Kong

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Not to be confused with HK Express, Hong Kong Airlines, Hong Kong Airways, or Oasis Hong Kong Airlines.

AHK Air Hong Kong Limited
香港華民航空
IATA ICAO Call sign
LD AHK AIR HONG KONG
FoundedNovember 1986; 38 years ago (1986-11)
Commenced operations4 February 1988; 36 years ago (1988-02-04)
AOC #6
HubsHong Kong International Airport
Frequent-flyer programCargo Clan Elite (by Cathay Pacific Cargo)
Fleet size14
Destinations13
Parent companyCathay Pacific
HeadquartersHong Kong
Key people
  • Alex McGowan (Chairman)
  • Clarence Tai (COO)
  • Geoff Marinko (Director of Flight Operations)
Websitewww.airhongkong.com.hk
Air Hong Kong
Traditional Chinese香港華民航空公司
Simplified Chinese香港华民航空公司
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinXiānggǎng Huámín Hángkōng Gōngsī
Hakka
RomanizationHiong1gong3 Fa2min2 Hong2kung1 Yiu2han4 Gung1su1
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingHoeng1gong2 Waa4man4 Hong4hung1 Jau5haan6 Gung1si1

Air Hong Kong (stylised as air Hongkong) is an all-cargo airline based in Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong, with its main hub at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline operates an express freight network to 13 destinations in nine countries, including China, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. It has a fleet of Airbus A300-600F General Freighters, which the airline was the launch customer of this new variant. Its head office is located on the fourth floor of the South Tower of Cathay Pacific City.[1]

Air Hong Kong was founded in November 1986 by three local businessmen and commenced charter services with a Boeing 707-320C freighter on 4 February 1988. In June 1994, Hong Kong's largest carrier, Cathay Pacific acquired 75% holdings of the airline; and acquired the remaining 25% in February 2002. In October, Cathay Pacific entered into a joint venture with DHL Worldwide Express (DHL), that eventually saw DHL take a 40% stake in the cargo airline, while Cathay Pacific retained the other 60% holding.

In 2017, Cathay Pacific entered into an agreement with DHL International for Cathay Pacific to acquire from DHL International the 40% shareholding in Air Hong Kong that it did not already own. This agreement was completed at the end of 2018, with the result that Air Hong Kong is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Cathay Pacific. Air Hong Kong continues to operate an agreed freighter network to destinations in Asia for DHL International.[2]

History

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A building complex with a wide glass building on the left and a tall and medium height office building on the right.
The head office of Air Hong Kong is within the Cathay Pacific City complex.
The old Air Hong Kong logo, made up of a navy blue colour pentagon, made up from the five 'A' character formed into a circle. Beneath the logo is the airline's name in both English and Traditional Chinese.
Old Air Hong Kong logo

Air Hong Kong was established in November 1986 by three local businessmen from London's Stansted Airport, which included Roger Walman. Roger teamed up with Tomas Sang from Hong Kong to help fund the business. The airline commenced charter services with a Boeing 707-320C freighter on 4 February 1988, to Bombay (now known as Mumbai), Britain and Kathmandu; and scheduled services began on 18 October 1989. By early 1990, the airline had two Boeing 707-320C and operated a scheduled cargo service to Manchester, with traffic rights to Auckland, Brussels, Fukuoka, Guam, Melbourne, Nagoya, Osaka, Perth, Busan, Singapore, Sydney, Vienna and Zürich.[3][4] Schedule cargo service to Nagoya was introduced and new traffic rights to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City granted by April 1991.[5] In March 1992, Air Hong Kong was granted additional traffic rights to Cairns, Darwin, Dhaka, Dubai, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur and Townsville. By March 1993, the airline operated scheduled cargo services to Brussels, Dubai, Ho Chi Minh City, Manchester, Nagoya and Singapore with a fleet of two Boeing 747-100SF and one Boeing 707-320C freighters.[6]

Polaris Aircraft Leasing, a subsidiary of General Electric Capital, entered into agreement in 1993 to suspend lease payments on the airline's three Boeing 747-100SFs in return for an option to buy up to 49 percent of the airline in January 1995. However, Cathay Pacific acquired 75 percent of the airline's shares for HK$200 million in June 1994 and the option was cancelled.[7][8] Facing weak demands and heavy financial losses, the airline was forced to terminate the lease on its Boeing 707-320C and one of its Boeing 747-100SF in November 1994 and January 1995, respectively, with only two Boeing 747-100SFs remaining.[9] By 2000, the airline had a fleet of three Boeing 747-200Fs with scheduled cargo services to Brussels, Dubai, Manchester and Osaka.[10]

The airline's parent, Cathay Pacific, acquired the remaining 25 percent of the airline's shares in February 2002 and became a wholly owned subsidiary. An operational restructure followed on 1 July, where Air Hong Kong ceased services to Brussels, Dubai and Manchester to focus on services in Asia. In October 2002, Cathay Pacific entered into a joint venture agreement with DHL Worldwide Express (DHL) by selling a 30 percent stake in the cargo airline in exchange for funds to purchase medium-size freighters to operate DHL's network in the Asia-Pacific region from Hong Kong. The airline set aside $300 million to purchase five freighters by 2004 and another $100 million towards at least three more freighters by 2010. In March 2003, Cathay Pacific sold another 10 percent stake to DHL and retained 60 percent of the airline.[8][11]

Air Hong Kong was the launch customer for the Airbus A300-600F General Freighter, which is a new variant of the Airbus A300-600F. This new variant has a cargo loading system capable of handling virtually every type of container and pallet, and a side door at the rear of the lower deck capable of handling large items of general freight. The airline took its first delivery of this new aircraft in September 2004, with the eighth and final aircraft delivered on 22 June 2006. The new freighters were powered by two General Electric (GE) CF6-80C2 engines and signed a 14-year Maintenance Cost Per Hour (MCPH) programme with GE on 25 January 2005.[12][13][14]

In November 2007, Air Hong Kong received an Award for Operational Excellence by the aircraft manufacturer Airbus for achieving an overall best performance on aircraft utilisation, operational reliability and average delay time.[15]

Destinations

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Air Hong Kong operates cargo flights to the following destinations as of 29 October 2023:[16]

Country City Airport
China Beijing Beijing Capital International Airport
Chengdu Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport
Shanghai Shanghai Pudong International Airport
Hong Kong (hub) Hong Kong Hong Kong International Airport
Japan Nagoya Chubu Centrair International Airport
Osaka Kansai International Airport
Tokyo Narita International Airport|
Malaysia Penang Penang International Airport
Philippines Cebu Mactan–Cebu International Airport
Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport
Singapore Singapore Changi Airport
South Korea Seoul Incheon International Airport
Taiwan Taipei Taoyuan International Airport
Thailand Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport
Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City Tan Son Nhat International Airport

Fleet

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Current fleet

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An aircraft painted in white colour with the name Air Hong Kong painted in red on the fuselage, and in yellow colour from the rear to the tail with the name DHL painted in red on the tailfin.
Air Hong Kong Airbus A300-600F General Freighter (B-LDH)
A now-retired Air Hong Kong Boeing 747-400F

The Air Hong Kong fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of June 2024):[17]

Air Hong Kong fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Notes
Airbus A300-600F 5 — Operated for DHL Aviation
Airbus A330-200F 2 —
Airbus A330-300P2F 9 —
Total 16 —

In 2020, Air Hong Kong transferred a second A330F to its own air operator's certificate. While the first was a freighter-converted A330-322F, the latest is a production A330-243F.[18] ASL Airlines is currently operating one converted A330-322F for Air Hong Kong, while another aircraft an A330-343F, is being converted at EFW in Dresden. It is unknown when the fourth aircraft will be introduced into the network or when the current aircraft (being operated by ASL Airlines) will transfer under Air Hong Kong's AOC. The program is currently behind schedule.

The airline was the launch customer for the Airbus A300-600F General Freighter, which was the new variant of the Airbus A300-600F.[19]

Former fleet

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Aircraft Total Introduced Retired Notes
Boeing 707-320C Un­known 1988 1998
Boeing 727-200F Un­known Un­known Un­known
Boeing 747-100SF 4 1991 1996
Boeing 747-200F 1 1994 1996
Boeing 747-200SF 3 1997 2004
Boeing 747-400BCF 4 2011 2018

References

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  1. ^ "Directory: World Airlines." Flight International. 16–22 March 2004. 65 Archived 26 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine. "AIR HONG KONG [LD1 (AHK) 4F South Tower; Cathay Pacific City, 8 Scenic Road, Hong Kong International Airport, Lantau, Hong Kong (SAR), China"
  2. ^ "Cathay takes full control of freighter Air Hong Kong". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  3. ^ "News Scan". Flight International. Reed Business Information. 26 March 1988. p. 7. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  4. ^ "World Airline Directory 1990". Flight International. Reed Business Information. 14–20 March 1990. p. 56. Archived from the original on 16 May 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  5. ^ "World Airline Directory 1991". Flight International. Reed Business Information. 27 March – 2 April 1991. p. 54. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  6. ^ "World Airline Directory 1993". Flight International. Reed Business Information. 24–30 March 1993. p. 58. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  7. ^ "Cathay plans Air Hong Kong take-over". Flight International. Reed Business Information. 30 March – 5 April 1994. p. 6. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  8. ^ a b "Air Hong Kong". Air Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 9 September 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  9. ^ "Weak demand forces Air Hong Kong to cut fleet". Flight International. Reed Business Information. 11–17 January 1995. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  10. ^ "World Airline Directory 2000". Flight International. Reed Business Information. 4–10 April 2000. p. 60. Archived from the original on 13 May 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  11. ^ Fullbrook, David (15–21 October 2002). "Cathay and DHL seal cargo tie-up". Flight International. Reed Business Information. p. 11. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  12. ^ "Air Hong Kong takes delivery of its first A300-600GF aircraft" (Press release). Air Hong Kong. 13 September 2004. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  13. ^ "Final A300-600GF delivered to Air Hong Kong" (Press release). Air Hong Kong. 28 June 2006. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  14. ^ "AHK Air Hong Kong Signs 14-Year MCPHSM Agreement" (Press release). General Electric. 25 January 2005. Archived from the original on 11 December 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  15. ^ "Air Hong Kong awarded for operational excellence" (Press release). Air Hong Kong. 15 November 2007. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  16. ^ "Schedule". Air HongKong. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  17. ^ "Global Airline Guide 2019 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2019): 15.
  18. ^ "Air Hong Kong adds second own-operated A330F | Cargo Facts". cargofacts.com. 30 March 2020. Archived from the original on 3 April 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  19. ^ "Air Hong Kong – the only all cargo airline of Hong Kong". Air Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 13 September 2009. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
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