Hong Kong Airlines Launching A350 Flights to New York and San Francisco
Last month, we reported that Hong Kong Airlines (HX) would be launching nonstop service from HKG to Los Angeles, operated by its brand-new Airbus A350. The carrier has already taken delivery of its first plane and has a whopping 21 A350s on order, though, so it seemed likely that LAX wouldn't be HX's only US destination.
While that Los Angeles flight will be the first to launch, on December 18, 2018, the South China Morning Post is reporting that HX will also launch service to New York and San Francisco, in addition to London. All three flights will launch next year. These are all Cathay Pacific destinations, of course, so it'll be interesting to see what impact these new flights have on Cathay (and other legacy carrier) fares, especially considering the airline's current financial position.
According to an Airbus press release, HX's A350s offer a total of 334 seats, with 33 lie-flat beds in business, 108 seats in Economy Comfort and 193 coach seats. The state-of-the-art cabin includes in-flight entertainment and satellite Wi-Fi.
These new flights haven't been loaded yet, so it isn't possible to price them out. The carrier's LAX flight is available for as little as $427 round-trip in economy, though, so it's possible that we'll see deep-discount economy fares from San Francisco and New York as well.
HX has a frequent flyer program called Fortune Wings Club, and offers award flights on all of its routes. A round-trip economy award will run you 65,000 miles to LAX, while business class goes for 125,000 — award rates from San Francisco and New York may be comparable, but that remains to be seen. You can earn miles by flying HX and on some Virgin Australia flights, along with select partners (primarily for Hong Kong residents). The airline isn't part of an alliance, so unfortunately redemption opportunities are limited for flyers based in the US.
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