Dragonair Launches Flights to Jeju and Chiang Mai, Resumes Scheduled Service to Taichung

Dragonair today announced that three more destinations will be added to its regional network, with new services to Jeju in South Korea and Chiang Mai in Thailand together with the resumption of scheduled services to Taichung. The strengthening of the airline's network will offer more options for people travelling from Hong Kong and Mainland China within the Asia Pacific region.

The Jeju service will begin from 1 May with three flights a week. Chiang Mai will be a seasonal scheduled service with four flights a week operating from 1 July to the end of September. Taichung, meanwhile, will be served by two flights a day starting from 14 May. All three routes will be operated by Airbus A320 aircraft.

When Jeju and Chiang Mai come online, Dragonair will be the only airline operating direct non-stop services between Hong Kong and these popular tourist destinations.

"This latest strengthening of our network will reinforce Dragonair's strong position in providing seamless connectivity for passengers in both our core Mainland China market and within the wider Asia Pacific region. We believe these new and resumed services will be a significant boon in terms of developing business and tourism ties between Hong Kong and these three destinations," Dragonair Chief Executive Officer Patrick Yeung said.

"Jeju and Chiang Mai have long been popular with tourists, and through our new direct non-stop flights we will offer more choice and greater convenience for travellers to both destinations. Our service resumption to Taichung, meanwhile, demonstrates the opportunities for the development in air traffic brought by the recently signed Hong Kong - Taiwan Air Services Arrangement (ASA)."

The latest network announcement follows on the heels of Dragonair's resumption of services to the Mainland cities of Xi'an and Guilin, in April and May respectively. The airline will also boost frequencies and add capacity on a number of routes starting from the end of March. Following the above-mentioned service resumptions and the launch of new routes, Dragonair will serve a total of 38 destinations by July including 19 cities in Mainland China.

Dragonair has earlier announced its expansion plans for fleet and network together with the enhancement of products and services. A few destinations are being studied at the moment. Besides the mentioned destinations, the airline is also planning to operate to Clark, The Philippines and is now pending for government approval.

"With more destinations being added to our network we are set to introduce our award-winning services to new markets in both Mainland China and the Asia Pacific region where the potential for growth is enormous," Mr Yeung added.

The flight schedules for Jeju, Chiang Mai and Taichung are as follows (all times are local and subject to government approval):

Please note: Schedules may change without prior notice; online booking service will be available on the Dragonair website from May

Travellers can call the Dragonair reservations hotline at 3193 3888 or contact their local travel agent for details. More information can be found at www.dragonair.com.

Dragonair, an affiliate member of oneworld, is a Hong Kong-based airline operating a fleet of 32 passenger aircraft and serving 33 regional destinations, including 17 cities in Mainland China. Dragonair has been recognised for its product and service quality, and was voted for two consecutive years "World's Best Regional Airline" in the annual World Airline Survey run by Skytrax in 2010 and 2011. Dragonair is part of the Cathay Pacific Group, providing seamless connectivity for passengers to more than 160 cities around the globe.

Dragonair web site address: www.dragonair.com