Hong Kong Immigration insights on Hong Kong immigrant life: Hong Kong Airlines will launch its first route to Australia on January 8, 2016, departing from Hong Kong to the Gold Coast every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, and returning to Hong Kong from Cairns. This new route will be operated by a Hong Kong Airlines Airbus A330 aircraft, offering 292 seats per flight, including 32 business class seats. Hong Kong Airlines and Gold Coast Airport held a signing ceremony in the Gold Coast today.
Mr. Li Dianchun, Chief Commercial Officer of Hong Kong Airlines, stated: "Hong Kong Airlines is pleased to announce the addition of this highly anticipated route. Both the Gold Coast and Cairns are popular leisure travel destinations, and the launch of this route is intended to meet the growing travel demand for these two locations. Leveraging Hong Kong's connectivity advantages as an international aviation hub in the Asia region, we believe this route will be widely welcomed by passengers from Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chengdu, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Okinawa, Bangkok, and Taipei, and Hong Kong Airlines will provide them with more travel options."
Mr. David Collins, Chief Operating Officer of Gold Coast Airport, noted that the launch of this Hong Kong Airlines route promotes and strengthens the cooperative relationship between the Gold Coast and Hong Kong Airlines, as well as the Greater China region. "Over the past two years, our business development and marketing teams have worked closely with Hong Kong Airlines and sales agents in China, which ultimately led to the launch of this route. We are well aware of the high market demand for flights between the Gold Coast and China, and we believe that this thrice-weekly flight service will perform strongly in the future."
The number of travelers from Hong Kong to Australia has grown steadily over the past six years. According to data from Tourism and Events Queensland, 72.5% of travelers from Hong Kong to Queensland in 2014 were vacationers; furthermore, the total number of visitors from Hong Kong to Queensland increased significantly by 15% compared to the same period.