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Cathay Pacific Airways agreed to buy Hong Kong’s only budget carrier to enter the no-frills market, after more than a decade resisting such a move to focus on premium services. Cathay will pay HK$2.25b (US$287m) in cash for Hong Kong Express Airways the carrier said in a filing Tuesday. The carrier will also be issued $2.68b in promissory loan notes for the transaction. The deal is expected to be completed by Dec 31, Cathay said. The acquisition will give Cathay a crucial piece of business that’s missing from its operations and will lift its market share to more than 50% in Hong Kong. It will also provide Cathay with a new revenue source as the region’s growing economies allow more people to fly and as Chinese rivals expand with direct flights to Europe and US, bypassing the need to transit in Hong Kong. <br/>

One year since it operated its first nonstop Perth-London flight, Qantas has lauded it as a major success for the company and Australian tourism. The airline released a special “report card” to commemorate 1 year since its first flight on the route, which shows that the average load factor on the route has been around 94% on its 236-seat Boeing 787-9s. “There were a lot of expectations around this flight, both within Qantas and the broader community, and frankly it’s exceeded them,” commented CE Alan Joyce. The airline also released data showing that just under 60% of passengers on the route originate from Australia, with 31% from the UK. Of those passengers originating in Australia, around half start their journey in Perth, 25% from Melbourne where the flight commences, 7% from Sydney and 6% from Brisbane. <br/>