Hong Kong Airlines is set to fly non-stop between Hong Kong and Manila from June 1, 2018 onwards with the launch of a new daily service.
According to the airline, the decision follows notable growth in the number of visitor arrivals to Hong Kong from the Philippines. In 2017, total arrivals from the country reached 894,489, a climb of 13 per cent from the previous year.
There is some bad news for business travellers looking to make this journey with the carrier, however, in that the new Manila service will be an all-economy flight, flown by an Airbus A320 aircraft.
Hong Kong Airlines configures its A320s with two layouts, one of which does feature a business class cabin, though this will not be flying the Manila route.
Economy class seats on the higher-capacity, 174-seat all-economy configuration offer a pitch (legroom) of between 29 and 30 inches – though there are the more spacious emergency exit seats on rows 42 and 43 that offer 37 and 34 inches, respectively.
Width on these seats is 18 inches while the recline goes to 110 degrees.
The schedule for the new Manila route differs slightly on the Hong Kong-Manila leg, with flights leaving about 20 minutes later on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Hong Kong Airlines has been expanding its network significantly over the past year, particularly in North America where it has launched new routes to Vancouver, Los Angeles and San Francisco and has expressed its intention to fly non-stop to New York later this year as well as London.
Most recently, however, the carrier announced it would launch a seasonal, three-times-weekly service to Moscow from May 18 to October 27, foreseeing significant demand for the destination as Russia plays host to the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup.