Air Hong Kong, a freighter subsidiary of Cathay Pacific Airways and capacity provider for DHL Express, has completed a seven-year transition from an Airbus A300-600 fleet to an all-A330 airline, the companies announced Friday.
Air Hong Kong recently received its final A330 and retired the last A300-600 cargo jet. The A330 is newer and larger than the A300.
The Asian carrier first began operating the A300-600 on behalf of DHL Express in 2004. In 2017, Cathay Pacific acquired DHL Express’s minority stake in Air Hong Kong through a sale-leaseback of aircraft and became its sole owner. Air Hong Kong operates scheduled service for DHL between Hong Kong and major cities throughout Asia, including Tokyo and Seoul, South Korea. Aircraft are also used for occasional charter work when not on duty for DHL
With the completion of the re-fleeting programme, Air Hong Kong now operates an all-A330F fleet comprising 14 aircraft. The total includes 10 A330-300 passenger-to-freighter converted aircraft, of which Air Hong Kong is currently one of the world’s largest operators, and four A330-200 production freighters.
“The A300-600F has been a stalwart of Air Hong Kong’s fleet and an important part of our story for over two decades,” Chief Operating Officer Clarence Tai said in a news release. “The new-generation A330F brings with it considerable benefits that will enable us to further enhance our operations and services for our customers, and continue to play an important role in the ongoing growth of Hong Kong’s air cargo sector.”
Compared with the A300-600, the newer A330 provides 25% more payload (65 tons) and volume enabling more cargo to be carried, in particular e-commerce shipments. It also has a longer range capability of nearly 4,600 miles, allowing Air Hong Kong to expand to new destinations such as Bahrain and Sydney, Australia.
FreightWaves first reported in September 2023 that DHL Express was relocating the A300-600s to its in-house European airline because of difficulty securing maintenance and other support services in Hong Kong and replacing them with A330s. Air Hong Kong was the only carrier in Asia flying the A300-600 for several years after passenger airlines switched to other aircraft and vendors invested resources accordingly. Service providers shifted their focus to other aircraft because there weren’t enough A300s in circulation to turn a profit.
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