Honk Kong's flag carrier had announced its wish to acquire its little rival at the beginning of March and entered into a bid process on March 27.
Cathay Pacific airline announced it just finalized the acquisition of its little low cost competitor Hong Kong Express Airways, also known as HK Express, previously a subsidiary of HNA. On March 27, Cathay Pacific launched an issuer bid over HK Express and eventually got the full control of the low cost airline for an amount worth HKD 4.9 billion, or USD 630 million.
Ronald Lam, currently Director Commercial and Cargo at Cathay Pacific will become CEO of HK Express. The latter which started its activity in 2014 with only five airplanes now possesses a fleet composed of 24 aircraft — 11 of which being Airbus 1321-200, 8 being Airbus A320-200 and 5 being Airbus A320neo — and transported 4.1 million passengers last year toward 27 destinations, mainly in Korea and Japan.