Hong Kong in danger of losing its status as aviation hub, Qantas chief warns

Hong Kong is in danger of losing its role as an international aviation hub because of intense competition, the boss of Qantas Airways has warned. Alan Joyce, CE of Australia’s national airline, said Middle East airports and explosive growth in flights from mainland China to global destinations threatened to undermine dominant Asian airports, a view shared by analysts. Qantas’ Irish-born boss is the architect of non-stop 17-hour flights planned between Perth and London, the first direct service between the continent and Europe, which will see travellers benefit in bypassing Hong Kong or Singapore for faster trips. “The danger for a lot of the Asian hubs is that they were the premium hubs for a long time and what we are now seeing is the Middle Eastern hubs competing on the West and now the Chinese on the East and North,” Joyce said. “There are now so many hubs, so many carriers operating the same strategy and competing against each other, and that will be a battle that is great for the consumers, and I don’t see any end in sight.” Qantas has tipped non-stop Australia to Europe flights to Paris and Frankfurt as part of its future, a response – on top of partnering with Gulf carrier Emirates Airlines – to a need to carve out a new strategy on flying direct. <br/>