AirAsia Philippines to serve Hong Kong

Budget carrier AirAsia Philippines will begin flying to Hong Kong from the Philippines on July 19.

The carrier, an affiliate of Malaysia’s AirAsia Berhad, said its Hong Kong-Philippine flights will originate from its base at the Clark International Airport in Angeles City, Pampanga province some 80 kilometers north of Metro Manila.

It has an agreement with Victory Liner, one of the largest Philippine bus companies, to provide free shuttle service for its inbound and outbound passengers.

CEO Marianne Hontiveros said the airline believes there is a demand for its services from Clark, especially from Filipinos who work abroad commonly termed OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers).

AirAsia currently operates two Airbus A320s out of Clark. The carrier, which began operations last March, expects to serve 857,000 passengers in its first full-year of operations.

Its foreign destinations include Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Macau. It flies to three domestic Philippine destinations.

The airline had applications with the Philippine government to fly to Singapore, Malaysia, China and Thailand. It expects to have four operational aircraft by the end of this year.

AirAsia Berhad is Asia's largest low-fare, no-frills airline and a pioneer of low-cost travel in Asia. Based in Kuala Lumpur, it operates scheduled domestic and international flights to over 400 destinations in 25 countries. Its affiliate airlines are Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia and AirAsia Philippines.