Chinese tycoon takes on Cathay Pacific with new airline in Hong Kong

Greater Bay Airlines has ambitions to fly to 104 destinations in mainland China and North, South and South-east Asia, including Bangkok and Phuket. PHOTO: GREATERBAY-AIRLINES.COM

HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) - A new airline with ties to Beijing is trying to muscle into Hong Kong, a patch long dominated by stalwart Cathay Pacific Airways.

Greater Bay Airlines has ambitions to fly to 104 destinations in mainland China and North, South and South-east Asia, including Bangkok and Phuket. Scheduled flights have not begun yet, with the carrier receiving its air operator's certificate only at the beginning of the month and an air-transport licence still to be procured.

Starting an airline at the tail end of a pandemic that has decimated travel worldwide may sound unwise, but 62-year-old property magnate Bill Wong, dubbed the Li Ka Shing of Shenzhen for his expansive business empire across the border, is not a total novice. He already owns one carrier, Shenzhen-headquartered Donghai Airlines, which services a raft of Chinese cities as well as a few regional routes.

Greater Bay Airlines' entry into Hong Kong also comes at a low point for Cathay Pacific, the iconic carrier controlled by conglomerate Swire Pacific, whose parent is British-based private family group John Swire & Sons. Even before Covid-19, Cathay Pacific was impacted by its association with the 2019 pro-democracy protests in the former British colony, forcing a change in management.

Hong Kong is sticking to a Covid-19-zero strategy, so Cathay Pacific can only watch on as carriers in neighbouring places such as Singapore and Indonesia prepare to ramp up international routes. With no domestic market and mainland China's borders still closed even to Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific's passenger traffic languishes at about 5 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

"We're starting from new, so we don't have the burden or the baggage," Greater Bay Airlines chief executive officer Algernon Yau said, suggesting that Covid-19 has levelled the playing field.

Greater Bay Airlines can be more agile and flexible than a legacy carrier like Cathay Pacific, he said. It also has a ready-made travelling public on its doorstep, considering the Greater Bay Area covers Hong Kong, Macau and municipalities in Guangdong province with a population north of 86 million.

"Now, we're all starting from the same line," Mr Yau said during an interview at his office overlooking a hazy Hong Kong Airport and its new third runway. "When business comes back, we can easily catch up and not be left behind."

Mr Wong declined to be interviewed.

Cathay Pacific, which is almost 30 per cent owned by state-controlled Air China, seems unperturbed by the potential for more competition. "There is a wealth of potential for both business and leisure travel as the region continues to develop," a spokesman said.

There have already been some setbacks, however.

Greater Bay Airlines, which has three Boeing 737-800 jets on lease and plans to grow its fleet to more than 30 by 2026, had hoped to begin operations on China's National Day on Oct 1 with a symbolic flight to Beijing.

A Cathay Pacific aircraft coming in for landing at Hong Kong International Airport on Aug 11, 2021. PHOTO: AFP

That never happened because it did not have a licence. Also, despite Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong Airlines not formally objecting to Greater Bay Airlines' licence request, the two have tried to stall the approval process, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported. A licensing hearing is scheduled for December.

Hong Kong Airlines is the city's only other commercial passenger airline that does not belong to the Cathay group. It has been limping along since its parent, Chinese conglomerate HNA Group, buckled under a pile of debt at the start of the pandemic.

Greater Bay Airlines is also unable to generate any cash at present because it cannot sell tickets. Mr Wong told SCMP almost a year ago that he expected to spend around HK$2 billion (S$346 million) before obtaining regulatory approvals. Other details surrounding the airline's financing are scant and Mr Yau did not elaborate.

"Investing in an airline is a very costly exercise," said Mr Yau, a former Cathay Pacific executive who, for a period, ran the airline's now defunct Cathay Dragon unit. "Our investor, Mr Wong, is a land developer in Shenzhen, so he has very strong financial support for this airline."

There is also the question mark over Hong Kong's future as an international aviation hub if the city's strict quarantine measures do not change. Although Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam pledged that the city would retain that title in her annual policy address on Oct 6, most travellers entering the financial hub still need to spend as long as 21 days isolating in a hotel.

"Demand for flights into Hong Kong remained very weak due to the strict quarantine requirements," Cathay Pacific chief customer and commercial officer Ronald Lam said on Tuesday (Oct 19), as the company released figures that showed it carried only 131,774 passengers in September.

Despite the difficulties of the pandemic and Hong Kong's Covid-19-zero approach, Greater Bay Airlines could benefit from its timing, with cheaper aircraft, less congested landing slots and plenty of available pilots, according to Mr Brendan Sobie, a Singapore-based consultant at Sobie Aviation.

Another factor going in Mr Wong's favour is his ties to the mainland. The businessman is a member of China's key political advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Mr Yau said Hong Kong-Beijing would be a fitting first route.

"Greater Bay Airlines will probably be looked at by the regulators relatively favourably," said Mr Richard Harris, founder and CEO of Hong Kong-based Port Shelter Investment Management. "Cathay is partly owned by British interests, partly by a Chinese airline and partly by Qatar. But what it isn't - it's not linked to China as much."

Mr Yau said Greater Bay Airlines will be a "value carrier", somewhere between a budget airline and a full-service one. Planes will not have seat-back televisions and customers will be encouraged to use an app to customise their journey before boarding, including ordering food from McDonald's, for example, or premium whisky to be served in-flight.

Most pilots and cabin crew are Hong Kong citizens who used to work for Cathay Pacific, Cathay Dragon or Hong Kong Airlines, he said, adding that Greater Bay Airlines aims to have about 150 employees by December.

"We're quite aggressive with our plan," Mr Yau said.

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