Hong Kong Airlines

Is Hong Kong Airlines safe?

Yes. Hong Kong Airlines has never had a fatal accident or lost an aircraft, and it is overseen by Hong Kong's Civil Aviation Department, one of the stronger regulators in Asia. We score it 82. That is below Cathay Pacific (85) and HK Express, and the reasons are concrete: it has flown Airbus A330s built in 2001 and 2002, and one of them lost both of its main hydraulic systems in 2019.

The airline started in 2001 as CR Airways, a helicopter operator, and began flying jets in 2003. HNA, the owner of Hainan Airlines, bought control in 2006 and renamed it. It grew fast with HNA money, then ran into trouble from 2018: Hong Kong's protests, the pandemic and the HNA Group's own collapse.

What happened to its finances?

By late 2022 the airline had 53 aircraft on its books but only 8 of its 30 Airbus jets in the air. Courts in London and Hong Kong approved a restructuring of about US$6.2 billion of debt in December 2022, without which it said it would probably have lost its licence. Under the plan, new investors took at least 94% of the shares for HK$3 billion and the fleet was cut to about 20 aircraft.

Since then it has rebuilt. In November 2024 the airline said it expected to carry five million passengers that year, planned to grow to 30 aircraft by the year's end and would hire 60% more pilots. Flights to Vancouver and the Gold Coast were due to resume in January 2025. The old ties have not gone. In April 2023 ch-aviation reported that the new investors include Liaoning Fangda Group, which has also controlled Hainan Airlines Holding since 2021. Hainan still leases aircraft to it, and its 2026 half-year report shows about CNY 932 million in unpaid aircraft rent and maintenance bills from Hong Kong Airlines at the end of June. Hong Kong Airlines has promised to repay CNY 387 million of rent and other bills run up in 2023 and 2024 by the end of 2028.

None of this is a safety finding. But it explains the fleet. A cash-poor airline rebuilding quickly takes second-hand aircraft, and that showed in the AAIA's 2019 report.

The 2019 hydraulic failure

On 29 September 2019, A330 flight HX707 to Bali was climbing through 3,460 ft out of Hong Kong when the green and blue hydraulic systems lost pressure. The crew declared an emergency and landed back at Hong Kong; a tyre burst, but no one was hurt. Investigators found that a manual valve had come off the green system's ground service panel after its four screws broke from fatigue, and the loose valve punctured a blue system pipe.

Airbus had issued a service bulletin to change those screws years earlier, but it was not mandatory. The aircraft had been built around 2001, flown by Emirates without the change, and brought to Hong Kong in 2018. Hong Kong Airlines had not added it either. After the event, it fitted the fix to its last two A330s, and it changed how it reviews optional bulletins when it takes on used aircraft. In December 2019 EASA made the bulletin mandatory for all A330s with the affected part.

Earlier that year, in May 2019, Japan's transport ministry reported that at least six Hong Kong Airlines flights had arrived with small parts missing, such as screws and light covers. None was critical, but Hong Kong's CAD asked the airline to explain. Those two events, both in 2019, are the main reason the incidents factor is 70 rather than in the high 70s.

Since then the public record is milder. On 20 March 2025 a passenger's power bank caught fire in an overhead bin on A320 flight HX115 from Hangzhou; the cabin crew put it out and the aircraft diverted to Fuzhou. China's CAAC rated it a serious incident. In 2024 two A330 flights returned or diverted with a hydraulic leak on a landing gear strut and a suspected fuel leak. Two runway conflicts in 2017 and 2020 came from air traffic control clearances, not the crew.

Turbulence

The airline's two accidents in the last 20 years are both turbulence. In June 2019 a cabin crew member broke a foot when an A330 hit severe turbulence during the pre-landing cabin checks before Hong Kong, with the seat belt sign on. In April 2023 an A320 to Haikou hit an updraft shortly after the sign went off; two crew members and one passenger were hurt, and one crew member's ankle was broken. Neither aircraft was damaged.

Fleet

The airline flies only Airbus: A330-200s and A330-300s on longer routes, A320s and, since 2024, A321s on regional ones. We found no A320neo, A321neo or A350 in its current fleet, and it publishes no fleet age. In 2019 it flew at least two A330s built in 2001 and 2002, and more A330-300s joined in 2024. The Airbus A330 has a good record over three decades, but age needs careful maintenance, which is why the fleet factor is the lowest score here.

Before you fly

• Keep your seat belt fastened whenever you are seated. Both of the airline's accidents in recent years were turbulence, and the 2023 one hit just after the sign went off.
• Do not use or charge a power bank in flight, and keep it in your seat pocket, not the overhead bin, so the crew can reach it fast if it overheats. Mainland China has banned power banks without a 3C safety mark on domestic flights since 28 June 2025.
• On routes to Vancouver and the Gold Coast, the A330 may be one of the older ones. The type is well proven, so this is no reason to avoid the flight.

How we scored it

Oversight (88) and the accident record (89) are strong: Hong Kong regulation with IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary, and no fatal accident or hull lossHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary. The fleet (66) is the weakest factor, with old A330s and no new-generation types, and the incidents factor (70) reflects the 2019 hydraulic failure and missing-parts reports.