Dragonair
| Dragonair 港龍航空 |
||
|---|---|---|
| IATA KA |
ICAO HDA |
Callsign DRAGON |
| Founded | 1985 | |
| Hubs | Hong Kong International Airport | |
| Frequent flyer program | Asia Miles, The Marco Polo Club | |
| Member lounge | G16 Lounge | |
| Alliance | Oneworld | |
| Fleet size | 39 (+3 orders) | |
| Destinations | 35 (incl. cargo) | |
| Parent company | Cathay Pacific | |
| Headquarters | Hong Kong | |
| Key people | K.P. Chao (Honorary chairman) Kenny Tang, CEO |
|
| Website: http://www.dragonair.com | ||
- For the Pokémon of the same name, see Dragonair.
Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Limited, operating as Dragonair, (traditional Chinese: 港龍航空有限公司; pinyin: Gǎnglóng Hángkōng Yŏuxiàn Gōngsī) is an airline based in Hong Kong. It is a subsidiary of Hong-Kong's largest airline Cathay Pacific, and is itself the second-largest airline in Hong Kong . It operates a passenger network covering destinations across the Asia-Pacific region, and the airline especially focuses on Chinese Market. Its main base is Hong Kong International Airport[1].
Contents |
History
The airline was established in May 1985 on the initiative of KP Chao, the airline's present honorary chairman, and started operations in July 1985 with a Boeing 737 service from Kai Tak International Airport to Kota Kinabalu International Airport in Malaysia. At the time, Dragonair was only a small player in the Asian skies, and the airline's name was Hong Kong Dragon Airlines. In 1986, the airline officially changed its name to Dragonair (although its Chinese name remained the same) and was granted licences to operate to eight cities in mainland China and a regular service to Phuket. In January 1987 Dragonair announced the order of two long-range MD-11 aircraft, however after opposition from Cathay it was not able to gain the scheduled routes it needed to compete effectively. In 1987, the airline began charter flights to mainland China. This was also the year that Dragonair became the first Hong Kong-based airline to join IATA.
From the inception of the airline, Dragonair was involved in protracted legal disputes with Hong Kong's largest carrier Cathay Pacific Airways Limited. Dragonair was the first local passenger-carrying competition for Cathay Pacific in forty years. Another new player (freight airline Air Hong Kong) existed but was later acquired and closed. From 1985 Cathay fought vigorously to block Dragonair's flight-slot applications and after heated hearings before Hong Kong's Air Transport Licensing Authority, the government adopted a one route-one airline policy that lasted until 2001. Dragonair was disadvantaged in that Sir John Bembridge, Hong Kong's financial secretary at the time, was also a former Cathay Pacific chairman. [7]
The following quote is from Mr. Stephen Miller, Dragonair's first CEO:
"Our arrival on the scene was not hailed very enthusiastically by the then Hong Kong government...we got a lot of opposition from Cathay,". Concentrating on a boom in travel elsewhere in the 80s, Cathay Pacific left the undeveloped China market to Dragonair and thus forced into accepting lesser routes, the young airline focused on the mainland. [7]
In January 1990, Cathay Pacific and Swire Group acquired a 35% holding from the Chao family, while CITIC acquired a 38% share. The Chao family retained a 22% stake with the remainder held by minor shareholders[1]. It is at this time that Cathay Pacific transferred its routes to Beijing and Shanghai to Dragonair along with its TriStars. In 1993, Airbus A320 aircraft joined the fleet, followed by Airbus A330s in 1995. The arrival of these two types of aircraft quickly led to the aging TriStars from Cathay Pacific being phased out.
A further redistribution of shares took place in April 1996, when China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) purchased 35.86% of Dragonair and became the largest shareholder. The stake was further increased when CNAC was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 17 December 1997[1]. In 1998, Dragonair became the last airline to have a plane land at Kai Tak International Airport.
In 2000 Dragonair created a dedicated freighter operation flying to Shanghai, Europe and the Middle East using leased Boeing 747-300 aircraft and a service to Osaka was added in May 2001. The airline purchased two further 747s in 2001 and extended freight operations to Xiamen and Taipei. Dragonair's net profits rose 60 percent to HK$ 540 million in 2002 of which reported Aviation Daily, cargo operations accounted for 30 percent of revenues. Freight volume increased nearly fifty percent in 2002, to 21,000 tons. [5]
Dragonair began a scheduled passenger service to Bangkok in November 2003 and began flying to Tokyo's Narita Airport in April 2004. Cargo continued to see consistent growth and the airline commenced a Hong Kong-Shanghai freight route on behalf of DHL in June 2003 and used a leased Airbus A300 freighter to start a cargo service to Nanjing in June 2004. A second daily European loop to Frankfurt and London (in addition to Manchester and Amsterdam) followed and by mid-2004 the carrier had 5 Boeing 747 freighter and 26 Airbus passenger airliners. In bitter Air Transport Licensing Authority (ATLA) hearings in 2004 Cathay Pacific applied to fly to three mainland cities to which Dragonair filed an objection, saying the move would have an effect on its very survival. [6]
A route to Sydney was scheduled to open in the second half of 2005 and an additional 3 specially configured A330 aircraft and ETOPS and administrative operational approvals were obtained. Manila, and Seoul were other anticipated destinations. Dragonair also planned services to the United States in 2005 at first with cargo flights to New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Columbus. The airline was planning to more than double its freighter fleet to nine Boeing 747s by 2008. [5]
In 2005 Cathay owned 18 percent of Dragonair and a Hong Kong newspaper reported that Swire Pacific was in advanced negotiations that would see Cathay take over Dragonair. This was dismissed outright by Tony Tyler, then chief operating officer of Cathay Pacific who said "We have no plans to change that structure right now," "We are happy with the structure of the shareholding in Dragonair at the moment." Peter Hilton, transport analyst at CSFB, said Tyler's remarks were a "cut and dried" dismissal of the Dragonair takeover talk. [9]
On 28 September 2006 Dragonair became a wholly owned subsidiary of Cathay Pacific after completion of a major shareholding realignment involving Cathay Pacific, Air China, CNAC, CITIC Pacific and Swire Pacific.
Cathay Pacific has claimed that Dragonair will continue to operate as a separate airline within the Cathay Pacific group, maintaining its own air operators certificate and with the brand unchanged. It has 2,745 employees (at March 2007)[1], in its' press-releases after the takeover it admitted that it would subsequently downsize Dragonair and 5% of Dragonair staff would lose their jobs. No Cathay Pacific staff were to be affected.[8] By December 2008 the only staff remaining as directly employed by Dragonair were Pilots and Flight Attendants.
As of 2009 most of the above expansion plans have been terminated. The Bangkok and Narita services have ceased, the anticipated Sydney, Manila and Seoul services cancelled and the United States expansion cancelled. The planned 9-aircraft Freight operation has now effectively been eliminated with only 1 747-400 remaining. According to the Cathay Pacific CEO, Dragonair will now restrict its focus to Asian destinations and in particular Mainland China. [10]
In 2006 Dragonair employed 3,894 employees. By March 2007 this figure was down to 2,745 and in November 2008 this figure had been further cut to 2,598 (representing a 33% downsizing). [11]
Dragonair announced that its own loyalty programme, The Elite, would merge into that of Cathay Pacific's (The Marco Polo Club) from 1 January 2007. Current Elite members were offered similar membership by The Marco Polo Club.[2]
Dragonair joined the Oneworld alliance as an affiliate member on 1 November 2007 (parent airline Cathay Pacific is a full member of Oneworld).
Subsidiaries
|
Destinations
Dragonair codeshares with Air China on flights between Hong Kong and mainland China (particularly Beijing), Royal Brunei on flights between Hong Kong and Bandar Seri Begawan and China Southern Airlines between Hong Kong and Guangzhou. Malaysian Airlines is another partner codesharing with Dragonair, on routes to Kota Kinabalu. The current sole shareholder of Dragonair, Cathay Pacific, has recently put on its 'CX67--' or 'CX68--' code on most Dragonair flights.
Fleet
The Dragonair fleet consists of the following aircraft (at September 2007)[1] :
| Aircraft | In Operation (on order) |
Seat Configuration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A320-200 | 10 (+2)[1] | J8/Y150(158) | |
| Airbus A321-200 | 6 | J24/Y148(172) | |
| Airbus A330-300 | 17 | F12/J42/Y230(284) J30/Y270(300) J42/Y273 (315) |
Only new Aircraft to be fitted with new PTV.3-class airplanes have AVOD. |
| Aircraft | In Operation (on order) |
Cargo capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 747-200F | 1 | 100,000+ kgs | |
| Boeing 747-300SF | 3 | 100,000+ kgs | |
| Boeing 747-400F | 1 | 120,000 kgs | Wet leased from China Airlines |
| Boeing 747-400BCF | 2 (1) | 120,000 kgs |
Dragonair average fleet age is 8.7 years old in January 2008[3].
Livery
Dragonair's planes are mainly white, with a red dragon on the tail, and the name Dragonair written in English dark lettering under the front passenger windows, and in Chinese red lettering over the front passenger windows also. Recently, Dragonair introduced its first livery paint on A330, with the registration code of B-HWG. The paint portrays a Dragon Boat on sides of the aircraft. The Chinese and English word of Swire was begun to be placed under the registration code of tails of aircraft after Cathay Pacific became the sole shareholder of Dragonair.
The dragon has, inexplicably, three left and one right claws.
Ground handling
At Hong Kong International Airport, ground services are handled by Hong Kong International Airport Services Limited, a subsidiary of Dragonair. They operate Airside/Landside Operations, Baggage Services, Cargo Services, Ramp Services, Ticketing & Information, Station Control, and Flight Operations for Dragonair and several other airlines at this airport.[4] It also provide VIP lounge services to Dragonair.
See also
- Asia Miles
- Cathay Pacific Airways
- List of Hong Kong companies
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Directory: World Airlines", Flight International (2007-04-03), p. 74.
- ↑ Dragonair Loyalty programme
- ↑ Dragonair Fleet Age
- ↑ It services the following airlines: Air France (AF), Finnair (AY), UNI AIR (B7), Royal Brunei Airlines (BI), EVA Airways (BR), Continental Airlines (CO), Continental Micronesia (CS), Dragonair (KA), KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL), All Nippon Airways (NH), Asiana Airlines (OZ), and Virgin Atlantic Airways (VS)
5. Funding Universe: Hong Kong Company Histories. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Hong-Kong-Dragon-Airlines-Ltd-Company-History.html
6. ATLA hearing coverage: Cathay, Dragonair plead their case on mainland routes. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8798570.html
7. The Dragon that was too hot to handle. HK Standard Newspaper online. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=1&art_id=20377&sid=8309178&con_type=1
8. Dragonair to be downsized - China Economic Net. http://en.ce.cn/Industries/Aerospare/200609/29/t20060929_8780007.shtml
9. AirWise News: Cathay happy with dragonair share structure 2005: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1112179197.html
10. Dragonair beijing Office. http://info.hktdc.com/shippers/vol30_5/vol30_5_air10.htm
11. Dragonair Homepage: http://www.dragonair.com/da/en_INTL/aboutus/aboutdragonair/fastfacts?refID=4418ebe4f0bef010VgnVCM10000021d21c39____
External links
- Dragonair
- Dragonair Cargo
- Cathay vs Dragonair. [2]
|
|||||
|
||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||