More Pressure on Cathay
 

What you need to know about Hong Kong’s new Greater Bay Airlines

The cashed-up carrier will challenge Cathay Pacific on over 100 key Asian routes.

What you need to know about Hong Kong’s new Greater Bay Airlines - Executive Traveller

Lots of blustery talk from Mr. Yau,

“Investing in an airline is a very costly exercise,” said Yau. “Our investor Mr Wong is a land developer in Shenzhen, so he has very strong financial support to this airline.”
Land development in China is not a pump and dump scheme founded on a mountain of debt. So the strong financials may not be all they seem.

“Another factor going in Wong’s favour is his ties to the mainland. The businessman is a member of China’s key political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Yau has noted that Hong Kong-Beijing would be a fitting first route.”
Political ties are all well and good until you lose favour or a different faction gains prominence.

“Greater Bay Airlines is also unable to generate any cash at present because it can’t sell tickets.Wong said over a year ago that he expected to spend around HK$2 billion (USD$257 million) before obtaining regulatory approvals. Other details surrounding the airline’s financing are scant and Yau didn’t elaborate.”
Nothing possibly sketchy here then.

“Most pilots and cabin crew are Hong Kong citizens who used to work for Cathay, Dragon or Hong Kong Airlines, Yau said. “We’re quite aggressive with our plan.”
And those pilots are aggressively applying for a job with Cathay.

“Good timing, or bad?”
Bad, really, really bad.

The fight for survival initially will be between HKA and GBA but I guess you can’t talk bad about another well connected tycoon’s airline.

Au contraire, the guys I know at GBA are not applying for a job at Cathay, aggressively or otherwise.

I remember when everybody was wetting their pants because of Hong Kong Airlines.

Yep, that was when there was a favourite son. Now I'm not so sure....

Usually a government doesn't pay a company billions to show them they don't like them no more.

STW, we've done this already.

The HK government loan structure is a payday/pawnshop loan. It will in a few years cripple CX into having to sell itself to the best connected bidder from China. My guess is 2025, which is the year Sir Adrian Swire predicted in the early 1980s

STW you really aren’t that clever.

Sure, you two geniuses figured it all out, the secret plan.

So first inject billions in a bankrupt airline.

Then build up a competition, investing again.

Then force Swire to sell, paying up just one more time.

Haha, Brilliant plan 😂😂😂

Ps I could not care less who owns Cathay, or what is left of it.

Nor does anyone else.

They paid this money to preserve jobs and keep HK an aviation hub. If it was HKA or GBA that was the biggest employer where do you think the money would have gone?

Swire is loathed by the CCP, maintaining social stability in their country is the CCP mantra. Mass unemployment and driving HK into the ground economically would lead to massive unrest. Better to throw a few $$$ at whoever can head that off, no different to Evergrande...

HKSAR dollars wasn't an endorsement of the company. It was a patch to avoid the rippling affect through the economy.

After quashing the protests, did they want 20,000 CX employees turning on the government?

Of course the money was to stabilise Cathay and keep the jobs. That is what I am saying. But this is not what you are saying.

You think there is a secret plan by "they", who want to push out Swire including cunningly building up a competition. There are even colleagues ( you probably agree) who believe the whole border closing serves secretly to drive out Swire.

Textbook conspiracy theory.

You are skewing facts to fuel a theory. I have stated the facts, there is no conspiracy. Swire pissed off the CCP when they said the protesters are free to do what they want.

HK Covid policy is mainland driven[fact]

CX crew have imported omicron[fact]

Border policy is driven by mainland[fact]

CCP policy is social stability[fact]

HK is a mainland city[fact]

High unemployment levels lead to social instability[fact]

HKSAR money is not a sweetheart deal for Swire[fact]

Financial penalties are loaded into the agreement, no different to any other bank when you don’t start paying back[fact]

I will leave you to piece the facts without skewing the realities.


I see, so they did this because they like CX. There was no social impact?

Are you the same person arguing these points? Or have you created an account with many users who don’t read the STW previous posts…..

Come on.. "like" is obviously meant in economicl terms. By the way, if it was ONLY about the workforce then you could just hand out the money directly to staff. Way cheaper. It was probably a mix of interests, workforce, connectivity etc

Anyway, you are obsessed by the idea there is a secret plan to boot out Swire, like so many.

First, I don't see the fascination. So what? Then we have a different evil master. I could not care less.

Second, all you did above is simply stating the obvious. It is your wrong conclusion that matters. Just because HK is controlled by China etc it does NOT necessarily mean Swire is doomed [fact]. That is only your personal interpretation without any shred of evidence.

During height of pro Dem rallies someone said; "I wouldn't dream of telling 10000 crew how to think" remember this?.

he left soon after...

Time will tell:

https://simpleflying.com/hong-kong-a...l-airline-hub/

Of all the bastardry that has gone on in Hong Kong aviation, none is lower than local CX pilots actively lobbying the government not to renew visas of their expat colleagues. Hang your miserable heads in shame.

It’s ok, STW said it’s going from strength to strength here. Everyone else is wrong.

afaik they all got another 6 months added so I am pretty sure the lobbying has been a waste of time and money (fortunately)

Seriously? Short term memory loss much? Training ban breakers and G day workers have been forgotten already.
Long term memory loss much?
49-ers debacle forgotten too?

Greater Bay is a B737 operator and in its current form couldn't challenge CX on long haul routes. The question is what does the master plan involve, will GBA remain as a regional operator with Air China absorbing CX or will GBA order widebodies and go worldwide ?

Interesting times.