Greater Bay Airlines Aims To Take Off In Summer

Startup carrier Greater Bay Airlines on Friday said it plans to launch its maiden commercial flight this summer after receiving the green light from local and overseas regulators.

The new carrier, founded by mainland tycoon Bill Wong, was in February awarded a licence by the Air Transport Licensing Authority (ATLA) to operate regular flights for the next five years.

In an interview with RTHK, the company's CEO, Algernon Yau, said the company is now seeking traffic rights and operating permits in other countries – a process that is expected to last three or four months.

Yau said the company is planning to fly to countries in southeast and northeast Asia as well as cities on the mainland, though he declined to name specific destinations, saying it all depends on the pandemic situation and business recovery.

But he's hopeful that the current travel restrictions in the SAR will soon be further relaxed, noting that authorities here have recently announced a shortening of the quarantine period for people returning to Hong Kong to a minimum of seven days.

"I do believe the Hong Kong government is trying their best to restart air travel and also give the businesses an opportunity to resume. I am seeing encouraging signs and approach by the government to help the business," Yau said.

"When you are doing business, you need to be optimistic," he continued. "That's my expectation that the situation will certainly improve by summer time and it's about time to start our operation."

The aviation veteran also called a suggestion to create a joint-immigration checkpoint with the mainland at the Hong Kong International Airport "a brilliant idea."

The plan was proposed by a group of local members of Beijing's top advisory body, the CPPCC, during its annual meeting in the capital earlier this month.

"That would attract more people from the mainland via Hong Kong to other destinations as well as attract many overseas people to come by Hong Kong and connect to the mainland because it's only one clearance which will facilitate the flow of the customs," Yau said.

Greater Bay Airlines has so far received two Boeing 737-800 aircraft and it's expected the third one will arrive later this year.

When asked if the company will consider diversifying its fleet in light of the recent fatal accident on the mainland involving the same aircraft model, Yau said the airline is following requirements of maintenance and regulations by the manufacturer and also Hong Kong's Civil Aviation Department.

"For the airline itself, we are constantly looking at our fleet requirement from time to time, especially we have to expand our operation. There's always an opportunity to look at the fleet requirement,” he added.