Here’s a good one. Hong Kong Airlines has decided to sell tickets on a new route. Nothing new you might think, except this will be a single class route between London and Hong Hong. With Business Class Seats.
Tickets will go on sale in December, with flights launching in March 2012.
Hong Kong Airlines plan to operate this with *three* A330-200, configured with 34 lie-flat seats, and 82 Business “Cradle” style seats, with power at seat, In-Flight Connectivity by OnAir and AVOD installed.
The flight will be operated on a daily basis using the three A330’s, although the airline is being coy to which London Airport will be served. Given the capacity limits at Heathrow, unless they’ve pulled some magic out of the hat, it’ll be either Gatwick or Stansted. The exact timings have not been revealed, but as they wish to have night flights to allow either a business day at Hong Kong, or an easy connection to China, with the return leaving in the afternoon to arrive early in the UK.
How this will work, I’m not sure. The London <> Hong Kong route has a lot of competition with British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand providing daily links, and the usual lot of Middle Eastern carriers providing one-stop connections.
If it can turn into a corporate shuttle, it could work… but that would mean one hell of a lot of defections…