Qantas, Cathay Pacific make deal to launch new services
Qantas, Cathay Pacific make deal to launch new services
Agence France-Presse, Sydney, Australia
Tourism has received a major boost from an agreement between Hong Kong and Australia to allow a doubling of flights between Australian centers and the Special Administrative Region, the government said on Friday.
The agreement, formalized late on Thursday, will mean an immediate increase in flights from 35 to 55 a week between the Hong Kong and Australian centers, with national carrier Qantas Airways and Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways both due to launch new services.
Cathay will operate additional services to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth while Qantas said it would look at developing Hong Kong as a transit and stop-over point as well as a destination in its own right.
Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the additional capacity meant the Australian airline could look at developing new services to London via Hong Kong, as well as additional services between Australia and Hong Kong.
"Under the new arrangements, Qantas has the potential to offer four Hong Kong-London flights immediately, increasing to seven flights a week in 2006," he added.
Qantas and Cathay will be able to further increase the number of flights to 70 by March 2006. Another Hong Kong-based airline, Dragonair, will begin flights between Hong Kong and Sydney next year.
The skies between regional Australia and Hong Kong have also been opened up, paving the way for possible flights from centers such as Broome and Cairns.
Acting federal Transport Minister Ian Campbell said the agreement would provide a boon to both business and tourist traffic, and may also push down prices through competition.
"This is an historic agreement and a huge leap forward for tourism in Australia, opening wonderful opportunities for both Hong Kong and Australia," Campbell told reporters in Perth.
"It will allow more competition and better prices, and better access to a rapidly growing market for Australian carriers."
Australian airlines will be able to use Hong Kong as a stopover for direct flights to London, with four services a week available immediately, rising to seven by 2006.
In the past, Australian carriers have not been able to operate services beyond Hong Kong to Britain.
The agreement marked the end of years of negotiations which Campbell said had, at times, been trying.
"There have been issues that have been hard to resolve, and both parties have walked away from the table in the past, but last night we shook hands and did a deal," Campbell said.
He said he hoped the agreement would also re-ignite what had been a stagnant market.
Qantas has been flying to Hong Kong since 1949 and currently operates 28 services a week from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, with its discount carrier Australian Airlines also flying three Cairns-Hong Kong services a week.