Although most of the world’s air carriers face strong headwinds in the air cargo business this year, Hong Kong Airlines, a subsidiary of China’s HNA Group (中國海航集團), could see its performance soon improve with the help of Taiwan’s largest information technology conglomerate, Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團).
“The two companies have a close relationship and cooperate in the cargo business,” Hong Kong Airlines president Yang Jianhong (楊建紅) told a media briefing after the company held a ceremony to launch Hong Kong-Taipei and Hong Kong-Kaohsiung routes yesterday.
At present, a majority of the goods carried on some of the air carrier’s cargo business routes, such as Hong Kong-Zhengzhou and Hong Kong-Chongqing, are electronic products made by Hon Hai, Yang said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Following the coming high season for the shipment of these products, the air carrier is even planning to charter an Airbus 330 series cargo aircraft to deal with demand, Yang said.
Hong Kong Airlines owns five cargo aircraft — three A330 series and two Boeing 737 series, Yang said, adding that another B777 series cargo plane is scheduled to be delivered next year.
Meanwhile, Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘), who attended the ceremony, said he was considering the feasibility of storing all the products made by the group on Hainan Island and transporting them to different parts of the world using Hainan Airlines, a flagship unit of HNA Group.
Photo: Yao Kai-shiou, Taipei
While Gou did not provide any further details, he clearly indicated that the two companies are -working closely together.
This one customer has been crucial for the cargo business of Hong Kong Airlines this year, in sharp contrast to the more pessimistic outlook of many of its competitors.
However, with the rising cost of crude oil a key factor this year, Yang said the carrier would not buy or charter any aircraft as large as the B747 series, to save on fuel costs.
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