And this one....
Hong Kong Airlines starts medium haul passenger and cargo service
24 Oct 2008
Hong Kong Airlines will introduce A330 wide-body operations in 2009, providing medium haul passenger and cargo services between Hong Kong and cities in the Middle East and Australia. Part of the process involves personnel changes to meet the different needs of operating wide-body aircraft.
The Company has only been serving short haul in the Asia region in past years. By the end of 2007, Hong Kong Airlines have placed a firm order for a total of fifty A330 wide-body aircraft and A320 aircraft. The plan is to expand into medium haul market which may be introduced as early as the middle of 2009.
Part of the plan involves change of fleet composition, reducing the number of Boeing 737-800 narrow-body aircraft currently in use, as we introduce A330 wide-body aircraft into service progressively. A change of personnel is thus necessary to ensure that our flight operation will maintain a high standard with the new aircraft type. As a consequence, the Company will release 6 Captains and 4 First Officers today.
Its alliance Hong Kong Express Airways Limited will be increasing its fleet of B737-800 to 8 aircraft by the middle of December 2008 to better serve the traveling public in our existing regional market.
And this comes just 4 days after the SCMP quoted Raymond Ng as saying no lay offs were planned. So either Raymond was telling porkies or their long term plans changed a lot since Monday.
