Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Hong Kong Airlines crisis shows city must reform aviation policy says Qantas boss, as experts express doubt over future investment in struggling carrier

Australian airline’s CEO Alan Joyce says his company will not revisit putting money into Hong Kong carrier
The near collapse of Hong Kong Airlines highlights the need to reform the city’s aviation policy, a top airline chief has said.

In the wake of the carrier’s last-minute bailout by its Chinese owners, Alan Joyce, the Qantas CEO, said reforms were needed to create a “level playing field” in Hong Kong, where Cathay Pacific is seen as having an unfair advantage.

Qantas had its fingers burnt by the city’s Air Licensing Transport Authority in 2015 when its budget airline, Jetstar Hong Kong, was denied a licence by the authority, which also determined the fate of Hong Kong Airlines, the only local competitor to Cathay.

Joyce said the airline would “not revisit the possibility of investing in a Hong Kong carrier”, and called for licensing rules to be revamped to ensure healthy competition.

“We qualified for being a Hong Kong-based airline, more than Cathay did,” he said. “That was not allowed to happen at the time which was wrong. There should be a level playing field. The rules should be the rules, and people should have been allowed to do it.”

Since the Jetstar ruling, the Australian airline has doubled down on its Singapore base, where it is now the second largest airline at Changi Airport, behind the city’s flag carrier, and is ideally placed to capture the huge growth in air travel forecast in the region in the next 20 years.

Given the decision in 2015, experts doubt whether foreign airlines would have wanted to invest in HKA, given the hurdles they must overcome, one of which is how a company qualifies to be a local airline.

Four years ago, the ALTA said the budget carrier did not qualify, as its key business decisions were not made in Hong Kong, but Australia, where Jetstar is headquartered.

Jae-Woon Lee, an assistant professor of law at Chinese University, said the repercussions from that decision were still being felt, and would continue to be a significant consideration for any future potential investors.

“If a foreign airline wanted to be a simple investor, it’s fine, like Qatar Airways buying Cathay shares,” Lee said. “If the foreign airline wants to be the effective controller, Hong Kong wouldn’t allow it, and it will be a barrier to foreign investment.”

However, the Hong Kong government has defended its “progressive liberalisation policy” on aviation.

“We believe that there is considerable competition in our air services market and sufficient choices are available for travellers flying to and from Hong Kong,” a Transport and Housing Bureau spokeswoman said.

At the moment, the competitive landscape has largely shifted in Cathay’s favour, though it has increasingly felt the strain from rival mainland Chinese and Middle East carriers. In 2006, Dragonair was taken over by Cathay and earlier this year HK Express went the same way in a HK$4.93 billon deal.

Early this month, Hong Kong Airlines escaped from being the first airline in the territory to collapse in more than a decade, Oasis Hong Kong came and went in 2008.

Lee said runway slot allocations generally favoured incumbent airlines, making it a significant barrier for newcomers. To make Hong Kong aviation a level playing field, the slot allocation should be reviewed while factoring in Hong Kong’s uniqueness, he said.

“Aviation policy is a matter of prioritising,” Lee said, “For example, the central pillar of China’s aviation policy is to protect its “big three” state-owned airlines. Japan’s is how to become “Asian Gateway”. South Korea’s has been promoting home-grown low-cost airlines. What is Hong Kong’s aviation policy priority?”

Alan Tan Khee-Jin, an aviation law professor at the National University of Singapore, said the perception was that Cathay “exercises outsized influence in Hong Kong, and gets its way most of the time”.

But he said with question marks hanging over HKA, greater dominance for the larger incumbent would be bad for consumers and competition, though Cathay did not owe “ a duty to help others succeed”, through failures that have been “largely self-inflicted.”

The long-term uncertainty for Hong Kong Airlines reinforces the challenge among local players trying to compete with Cathay, which, as the incumbent has used up all available quotas for Hong Kong carriers to fly to India and Australia, leaving its struggling rival access to major destinations and growth markets.

In response, Cathay said it competed against 82 airlines and 37 cargo carriers, and collaborated with partner airlines, flying out of Hong Kong. “Competition is not a zero-sum game. We are used to competition,” the airline said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
×