Gotta Go: Rebirth at HK Express

I last wrote about HK Express back in May 2017, but since then the world has changed. Hong Kong's airlines suffered especially badly from the Pandemic, with the extended late Chinese lockdowns, but even prior to that travails of the HNA group and unrest in Hong Kong itself caused issues. Now under new ownership the airline is bigger and more profitable than ever, plus in January 2023 it unveiled a new branding as well.

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HNA group, the owner of Hainan Airlines, had owned HK Express since 2006 and converted it into a low-cost carrier in June 2013. For details of its earlier operations see my previous article about the airline:

Cramming Them In: HK Express' New Airbuses

Not long after I wrote that the HNA Group's financial troubles came to light and asset sales were on the horizon. Without a budget airline of its own Cathay Pacific was showing interest by early 2019, and in March agreed to purchase HK Express for $628 million. At the time the carrier had grown to fly 23 A320 family aircraft to destinations within Japan and Southeast Asia, but had struggled with profitability. 

Cathay's acquisition of HK Express meant it would also withdraw from the HNA led U-FLY Alliance that it had founded and it seems that alliance has subsequently been dissolved altogether. The acquisition of HK Express was finalised in July 2019 but almost immediately hit the rocks due to the civil unrest that broke out in Hong Kong in response to China's heavy handed, but ultimately successful attempts to curb freedoms and crush freedom of speech. Then COVID struck and the airline was shutdown on March 23, 2020. 

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Flights didn't resume until August 1, 2020 and even then it was a slow rebuild with sightseeing 'flights to nowhere' being mooted in November. By that time the carrier had burned through $133,000 in losses since it was purchased by Cathay. In fact, HK Express made operating losses the next two years, in both 2021 and 2022, flying a fraction of the passengers it had done in 2019.

Nonetheless, in 2023, as Hong Kong began to recover, HK Express was well positioned to grow, especially as Cathay Dragon had been shutdown during the pandemic leaving HK Express to pickup much of the former regional feed into Hong Kong for Cathay's long-haul services.

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It was also the time to rebrand HK Express, moving away from the distinctive but more business-like Hong Kong skyline style scheme that it had used since October 2013. The new branding is more playful but arguably a lot more generic too. It also comes with the rather bemusing slogan "Gotta Go". 

HK Express' previous classy livery

HK Express CEO Mandy Ng said:

"Three years have passed since the start of the pandemic. Just as travellers have gained new perspectives on travel, so has HK Express. Our refreshed brand concept reflects our zest for adventure and readiness to help like-minded travellers to explore the world on their own terms,"

While this may be true to Westerners the term "Gotta Go" is usually associated with a need to visit the toilet! 

It wasn't all new as HK Express continues to use purple as the primary colour, however the new logo is based around a stylised e with a new font and typeface to go with it. The marketing spin continues:

"[The e] ends with a new cyan, representing the freshness and novelty of the personalised journeys and experiences HK Express brings to each customer. Resonating the simple excitement of seeing a notification pop up, there’s always something new for customers to look forward to, even if they’re flying back to familiar places."

Alongside the new livery the airline also introduced new crew uniforms, designed by Hong Kong's sustainable fashion designer Mountain Yam. The new uniforms go together with the livery in introducing a less corporate look and feel. There is a trouser option for female cabin crew and dress shoes have been replaced by sneakers. This apparently signifies 'a symbolic shift from conventional rigidness to self-expression and creativity' - :)

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If I'm honest the new HK Express livery completely passed me by and the overall look is quite formulaic (and similar to the new livery of China United also). Even so, it has been a factor in the rebirth of the airline as pandemic restrictions have eased. HK Express has actually grown faster than Cathay itself has and now flies over 3 times as many passengers as it did at its height pre-pandemic.

The fleet nowadays consists of 6 A320ceos, 8 A320neos, 11 A321ceos and 8 A321neos. It is the A321neos that are driving the growth with all of them delivered since March 2023. Despite freedoms in Hong Kong not being what they were and impacting the area's appeal, and the independence of Cathay Pacific itself being severely curtailed, it seems HK Express is now a key part of the group and will continue to grow strongly in the future.

The current routemap as of August 2024

​References

​2020. Cathay Pacific Annual Results
2020, Nov. Pranjal, P. HK Express Staff Encouter Pay Cuts And Unpaid Leave. Simply Flying
2023, Jan 11. ‘Gotta Go’ with HK Express. hkexpress.com
​2023, Jan 4th. Schlapping, B. HK Express Rebrands With New Livery & Strange Slogan. One Mile at a Time
2023, Jan. Wong, K. HK Express unveils new brand concept amid recovery of travel in Asia Marketing Interactive
2024, Jul. ​HK Express has soared well beyond pre-pandemic capacity, and more growth is in the pipeline. CAPA