A lack of direct flights has been a bugbear to Hong Kong and Kazakhstan forging closer ties but with the city’s leader now in Astana and hints of incentives on the table, hopes are rising for a breakthrough.
It is understood that a Hong Kong-based airline is now exploring launching such flights up to three times a week, but the details are being ironed out.
Asel Suankulova, managing director of Kazakh Invest’s Investment Promotion and Marketing Department, told the South China Morning Post that the country was open to offering subsidies to Hong Kong-based airlines to revive direct flights, which she described as vital for strengthening business ties.
She also expressed confidence in demand for a Hong Kong-Kazakhstan route, pointing to the success of the Milan-Almaty service launched four years ago.
“Direct flights are vital,” she said in an interview on Monday, adding that they impacted not only investment, but also trade, tourism and how well people understood each other.
Suankulova noted that after the Almaty-Milan route was relaunched in 2022, the number of visa applications from Kazakhs to visit Italy had increased 15-fold.
“When they did the initial projections, they expected 80 per cent capacity,” she said. “But it was never 80 per cent – it was always 100 per cent. They even had to increase the number of flights ... and Milan is not the cheapest city to go visit.”
Air Astana used to operate a direct service between Hong Kong and Almaty before suspending the service at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Travellers from Hong Kong to the country now have to transit through cities such as Beijing, Urumqi or other Asian hubs, extending total travel time beyond nine hours or even more.
Suankulova said Air Astana – the flag carrier of Kazakhstan – was unable to launch the flights to Hong Kong due to fleet constraints, but authorities were open to offering subsidies to Hong Kong-based airlines.
“It is all discussable,” she said, adding it could start with seasonal flights and gradually increase its frequency.
Bauyrzhan Dosmanbetov, Kazakhstan’s consul general in Hong Kong, had previously noted the “connectivity gap” between the nation and the city remained the biggest challenge and often affected the pace of business, describing the lack of direct flights as “the only missing piece in an otherwise rapidly growing puzzle of cooperation”.
Cathay Pacific Airways’ chief customer and commercial officer, Lavinia Lau Hoi-zee, and Hong Kong Airlines board director Liu Yi Nan, as well as Airport Authority CEO Vivian Cheung Kar-fay and chairman Fred Lam Tin-fuk are all part of Lee’s delegation, fuelling hopes that the visit would break the impasse. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
