Dragonair to increase capacity and flights during Christmas and New Year period

Dragonair plans to operate 23 extra passenger flights and use larger aircraft on 21 services over the busy Christmas and New Year period, and has just increased the number of daily flights from Hong Kong to Beijing to eight ahead of the holidays.

The airline said that additional flights will be operated to Guilin, Phuket, Kota Kinabalu and Harbin between December 19 and January 5, 2004, in order to meet demand.

Larger aircraft will, meanwhile, be used to the popular destinations of Bangkok, Phuket and Kota Kinabalu.

"Tropical destinations such as Phuket and Kota Kinabalu are always popular places for getaways at this time of year, while the attractions of snow and winter sports activities are behind the desire to travel to Harbin," said Chief Executive Officer Stanley Hui. "Our new destination of Bangkok is, not surprisingly, also proving a hot choice over the holidays."

He added: "We have also raised the number of daily services to Beijing to eight in order to provide even more options for those travelling between the capital and Hong Kong. A customer can choose to fly from Hong Kong to Beijing from as early as 8:00am or as late as 7:25pm."