Very Impressive for a small airline that CX has tried to
ruin many a time.
Yes and no, but your timing is all wrong and you are barking up the wrong tree!
CX ran Dragon into the ground many years ago. Then when the price was right, gobbled it up so that CX owned and ran Dragon lock, stock and barrel (they did the same to Air HongKong).
When CX took over, they gave Dragon CX's own lucrative rights to Kaohsiung and Kota Kinabalu. Later on, CX had to give Dragon its rights Beijing and Shanghai, thereby eliminating CX presence in the Mainland, but at the same time keeping the profits on CX’s books. This was done as a hedge to keep the Mainland Carriers from claiming 5th Freedom rights out of HKG post 1997.
This strategy was effective in protecting the 5th Freedom rights, so the Mainland then insisted on starting up their own new airline out of HKG post 1997. CX starved off this threat to its HKG monopoly by selling a substantial portion of Dragon to the Mainland (CITIC/CNAC). However, in essence, CX still ran the board at KA after the transfer of shares.
The latest dust-up between CX and KA was meant to be just for public show that there is true "competition" between HKG carriers. But some of the Board Members got carried away in giving a little reminder to Swire that it doesn't completely control the board at KA and should pay attention to Mainland members. Fortunately, sanity has prevailed and this small hiccup has been resolved for now.
CX still owns 19% of Dragon and normally makes a tidy little profit from it (thank you for your efforts!). It is in the interests of both airlines that each has a good proportion of the HKG pie; otherwise others will take it off us.
Who is the true flag carrier in HKG?
GFS of course!