Hongkong Airlines starts daily flights to Manila

Tang King Shing (fourth from left), vice chairman of Hongkong Airlines, leads the inauguration ries for the new flights to Manila.

Hongkong Airlines started daily flights to Manila tonight, with a full maiden flight leaving at 9:30 pm.The same Airbus A320 plane leaves for Hong Kong at 3 am. tomorrow.

Tang King Shing

This is the fourth route launched by the full-service airline this year, following the inauguration of services to Maldives, San Francisco and Moscow, according to Tang King Shing, vice chairman of Hongkong Airlines.


"Manila represents a, exciting new market for Hongkong Airlines," Tang said during ceremonies to launch the inaugural flight.  

He noted the steady increase in travel between the two places over the years, with over 900,000 visitors from the Philippines arriving in Hong Kong in 2017.

"The new daily service is aimed to meet the increasing travel demands from the Philippines to Hong Kong,"he added. 

As an aside, Tang also said he spent his honeymoon in Manila.

Consul Paulo Saret

Consul Paulo Saret, who represented the Philippine Consulate General, said that with the new service, "we hope that more peole from Hong Kong, this time, will visit the Philippines."

He asked Hongkong Airlines to help promote the Philippines as a destination for Hong Kong people.
Sarest said Filipinos now working in Hong Kog will also welcome the new services because it will widen their choice of airlines and hopefully, lower fares due to increased competition.

The ceremonies were also attended by C.K. Ng, executive director of the Airport Authority of Hong Kong; Henry Ma, managing director of Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd., and Dennis Choy, the airline's general manager for communication.

A check with the airline's website, however, indicated that tickets to Manila were not yet available to those booking flights online.