Hong Kong’s Greater Bay Airlines to suspend flights to Singapore next month, announcing cuts 2 weeks after launching service
- Greater Bay Airlines says it will suspend regular flights to Singapore from June 1 for commercial reasons and after assessing latest market conditions
- Carrier announced in February it would launch new route to city state from April 26, with one flight scheduled each day
The carrier said on Thursday it would suspend the service from June 1 for commercial reasons and after assessing recent market conditions.
“To minimise the possible impact to passengers, we will directly contact our passengers to make rebooking, re-routing or refund arrangements, and all the associated fees will be waived,” it said.
The airline said affected fliers would be compensated with a free return ticket.
It also apologised to those affected, adding: “We will learn from the experience and strive to explore new potential destinations, enhance the service of existing routes and collaborate with travel agencies on charter business.”
The airline announced in February it would launch the new route to the city state from April 26, with one flight scheduled each day.
Passengers could still book flights to Singapore on the company’s website in May for about HK$640 (US$82) to HK$960 per trip, excluding taxes. But no fares were available from June.
A spokeswoman for the Transport and Logistics Bureau said the flight operation arrangements of individual airlines were commercial decisions.
“The Transport and Logistics Bureau has requested the Greater Bay Area Airlines to make appropriate arrangements, including providing proper support and assistance to affected passengers to reduce the impact on passengers,” she said.
“The move reflects that the company failed to have thoughtful planning about the new destination. It should have been clear about the potential demand, its customer base and the existing available services from other airlines,” he said.
“Now it seems that it realised in a short period of time the demand for the new route would not be sustainable, so it decided to put a brake on it.”
Law advised the airline to improve its route planning to stay afloat.
“This decision will have an impact on the company’s reputation.”
There were 14 direct flights between Hong Kong and Singapore scheduled for Friday, with the airline offering the cheapest fare at HK$836.
The carrier currently flies to another six destinations – Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Osaka and Tokyo in Japan, Taipei in Taiwan, Seoul in South Korea and Bangkok in Thailand.
The carrier said last year it aimed to fly to first-tier mainland Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Chongqing “as early as possible” and was looking at launching the services this year but first needed to secure airport slots.
Hong Kong’s Air Transport Licensing Authority in 2022 awarded the carrier a five-year permit to operate commercial flights on 104 routes, including 48 to the mainland, as well as to Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and other destinations in the Asia-Pacific region.
Andrew Yuen Chi-lok, a senior lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Aviation Policy and Research Centre, said the incident showed that the demand for flights in Hong Kong might not be as robust as before.
“There has been a rebound in aviation demand after Covid-19, but after one year the impact has subsided,” he said. “The coming aviation demand may not be as satisfactory as that of last year.”
Yuen said the carrier might have made a wrong assessment about its targeted customer base and advised it to focus on other tourist destinations in Asia.
“Singapore may not be a good choice for the airline as the destination attracts mainly business fliers, while the company should focus on tourists as its customer base,” he said.
“It should target some tourist destinations in countries like Japan, mainland China and Southeast Asia.”
