HK Express CEO out after flight cancellation fiasco
There is a change at the top for Hong Kong Express after flight cancellations drew stinging criticism from Hong Kong’s air regulator.
CEO Andrew Cowen was removed from his post and has been replaced by Zhong Gusong as acting chief executive ‘in light of recent challenges.’
Those challenges resulted in a series of flight cancellations over the busy holiday period which angered Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department.
The regulator had expressed concerns over high staff turnover in the airline’s safety department, which forced flights to be grounded.
The issue had been on-going but angered the regulator as it accused HK Express of not pro-actively handling the issue well or kept authorities updated.
Zhong had been vice president of HK Express for several years and was a director at sister carrier Hong Kong Airlines.
Both airlines are part-owned by Chinese conglomerate HNA Group.
"The first area of focus is working on understanding what has transpired in the airline recently, in order to implement any necessary improvements to ensure HK Express continues to serve the Hong Kong public in its unique role as the sole low-cost carrier," HNA said in a statement.
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