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Air Hong Kong

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Not to be confused with Hong Kong Airlines or Hong Kong Airways.
Air Hong Kong
香港華民航空
IATA ICAO Call sign
LD AHK AIR HONG KONG
FoundedNovember 1986
Commenced operations4 February 1988
HubsHong Kong International Airport
Fleet size8
Destinations12
Parent companyCathay Pacific
HeadquartersHong Kong
Key people
  • Richard Cater (COO)
    * Andrew Maddox
    (Director of Flight Operations)
Websitewww.airhongkong.com.hk
Cathay Pacific City
The head office of Air Hong Kong is within the Cathay Pacific City complex
Air Hong Kong Airbus A300-600F General Freighter at Tokyo Narita International Airport
Air Hong Kong Airbus A300-600F General Freighter (B-LDC) at Tokyo Narita International Airport

AHK Air Hong Kong Limited (AHK) (Chinese: 香港華民航空有限公司; Jyutping: hoeng1 gong2 waa4 man4 hong4 hung1 jau5 haan6 gung1 si1) is the only all cargo airline based in Hong Kong, with its main hub at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline operates an express freight network to 12 destinations in nine countries, including China, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Republic of China (Taiwan), Singapore, South Korea and Thailand. 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 percent holdings of the airline; and acquired the remaining 25 percent in February 2002. In October of the same year, Cathay Pacific entered into a joint venture with DHL Worldwide Express (DHL), eventually saw DHL took a 40 percent stake in the cargo airline, while Cathay Pacific retained the other 60 percent holdings.

History

Air Hong Kong was established in November 1986 by three local businessmen including Roger Walman. Based from London Stansted Airport, Roger Walman teamed up with Tomas Sang of Hong Kong who helped 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, Pusan, Singapore, Sydney, Vienna and Zurich.[2][3] Schedule cargo service to Nagoya was introduced and new traffic rights to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City granted by April 1991.[4] In March 1992, Air Hong Kong was granted additional traffic rights to Cairns, Darwin, Dhaka, Dubai, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur and Townville. 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.[5]

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.[6][7] 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 on November 1994 and January 1995, respectively, with only two Boeing 747-100SFs remaining.[8] By 2000, the airline had a fleet of three Boeing 747-200Fs with scheduled cargo services to Brussels, Dubai, Manchester and Osaka.[9]

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.[7][10]

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.[11][12][13]

In November 2007, Air Hong Kong received an Award for Operational Excellence by the airplane manufacturer Airbus for achieving an overall best performance on airplane utilisation, operational reliability and average delay time.[14]

Destinations

Air Hong Kong operates cargo flights to the following destinations as of 28 July 2009:[15]

Asia

East Asia

Southeast Asia

A Operated by Transmile Air Services' Boeing 727-200F freighter under a wetlease agreement[16]
B Operated by Cathay Pacific Cargo's Boeing 747-400BCF freighter under a wetlease agreement[16]

Terminated destinations

Asia
  • South Asia
  • Southeast Asia
    • Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City[5][7]
  • Southwest Asia
    • United Arab Emirates – Dubai[7]
Europe
  • Belgium – Brussels[7]
  • United Kingdom – Manchester[7]

Fleet

The airline was the launch customer for the Airbus A300-600F General Freighter, which is a new variant of the Airbus A300-600F.[17]

Air Hong Kong Fleet (as of 28 July 2009)[17]
Aircraft Total Note
Airbus A300-600F General Freighter 8

Retired

Aircraft that have been in service with Air Hong Kong are:

References

  1. ^ "Directory: World Airlines." Flight International. 16-22 March 2004. 65.
  2. ^ a b c "News Scan" (PDF). Flight International. Reed Business Information. 26 March 1988. p. 7. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
  3. ^ "World Airline Directory 1990" (PDF). Flight International. Reed Business Information. 14–20 March 1990. p. 56. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
  4. ^ "World Airline Directory 1991" (PDF). Flight International. Reed Business Information. 27 March–2 April 1991. p. 54. Retrieved 2009-07-29. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ a b "World Airline Directory 1993" (PDF). Flight International. Reed Business Information. 24–30 March 1993. p. 58. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
  6. ^ "Cathay plans Air Hong Kong take-over" (PDF). Flight International. Reed Business Information. 30 March–5 April 1994. p. 6. Retrieved 2009-07-29. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h "Air Hong Kong". Air Hong Kong. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
  8. ^ "Weak demand forces Air Hong Kong to cut fleet" (PDF). Flight International. Reed Business Information. 11–17 January 1995. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
  9. ^ "World Airline Directory 2000" (PDF). Flight International. Reed Business Information. 4–10 April 2000. p. 60. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
  10. ^ Fullbrook, David (15–21 October 2002). "Cathay and DHL seal cargo tie-up" (PDF). Flight International. Reed Business Information. p. 11. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
  11. ^ "Air Hong Kong takes delivery of its first A300-600GF aircraft" (Press release). Air Hong Kong. 13 September 2004. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
  12. ^ "Final A300-600GF delivered to Air Hong Kong" (Press release). Air Hong Kong. 28 June 2006. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
  13. ^ "AHK Air Hong Kong Signs 14-Year MCPHSM Agreement" (Press release). General Electric. 25 January 2005. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
  14. ^ "Air Hong Kong awarded for operational excellence" (Press release). Air Hong Kong. 15 November 2007. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
  15. ^ "Air Hongkong offers services via the Hong Kong hub to major cities in Asia". Air Hong Kong. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  16. ^ a b "AHK Summer 09 Schedule". Air Hong Kong. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  17. ^ a b "Air Hong Kong - the only all cargo airline of Hong Kong". Air Hong Kong. Retrieved 2009-07-29.

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