HK Express Releases October 2014 Passenger Statistics

HK Express, Hong Kong’s one and only dedicated low fare airline, today released figures detailing the airline’s exceptional year-on-year growth performance. Among the key highlights was a 129% improvement in passenger numbers for the month of October, when compared with the same period last year, plus record unique visits towww.hkexpress.com during the airline’s $1 first year anniversary promotion.

The statistical comparison over the last 12 months is significant because on 27 October, 2013, HK Express transformed into a Low Cost Carrier (LCC), with a new vision for providing efficient and low-cost travel throughout Asia from their home base in Hong Kong. The dramatic leap in flight numbers reflects a number of aspects of the airline’s new focus; but most importantly, it attests to the success of a strategy to offer consistently affordable fares that make air travel accessible to more people.

“I’m also thrilled to note that despite the significant increase in the number of HK Express flights, we have still maintained our number one position among Hong Kong-based airlines in terms of On-Time Performance,” remarked Mr. Andrew Cowen, Deputy CEO of HK Express. On-Time Performance, on OTP, is generated by independent flight monitoring website www.flightstats.com. For September and October 2014, HK Express recorded an OTP of 81%, a figure 15 percentage points clear of their closest rival.

Another important gauge of HK Express’ expansion is the record number of unique users of their ticket booking website, www.hkexpress.com, during the airline’s recent $1 promotional event. The website recorded an all-time traffic high of 2,746,441 visits in the month of October, an incredible 134% increase when compared with last September; and unique visitors to hkexpress.com grew 75% month on month. The three most popular destinations for $1 tickets were Taichung, Fukuoka and Tokyo-Haneda respectively.

“We knew that the $1 ticket promotion would be popular, but a 130% jump in traffic was still a pleasant surprise,” said Mr. Cowen. “Fortunately, our hard-working software engineers and ticketing staff were on hand to ensure the system remained stable.”

Coinciding with the airline’s anniversary, HK Express is also pleased to announce the successful completion of contract renegotiations with pilots. The new contract is a three year contract to September 2017. Mr. Cowen said: “This new contract is yet another milestone in HK Express’ business transformation, and helps solidify our position as an employer of choice.” HK Express currently employs over 120 pilots and will increase that number by over 50% next year, to complement the additional aircraft soon to join the fleet.