People
HK Express CEO replaced amid safety controversy
October 6th 2017
On Wednesday, HK Express CEO, Andrew Cowen and the airline’s president, Jimmy Ma, left the airline with immediate effect. Read More » The budget carrier named Zhong Guosong, a vice president of HK Express, as acting CEO “in light of recent challenges”, an airline statement said.
Both airlines are part-owned by Hainan Airlines, a stable carrier of Mainland conglomerate HNA Group.
Cowen departed HK Express after the recent abrupt cancellation of 18 scheduled flights during this week’s ‘Golden Week’ holiday period in Mainland China. In August, three key safety trainers and a training manager quit HK Express, which resulted in crew licence renewal delays and, ultimately, the flight cancellations.
Acting CEO Zhong said on Wednesday his priority was “to fully understand what has transpired in the airline recently” and “to lead the management team to form a strategy and implement any necessary changes in order to improve our operations”.
In a statement, the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department said it had asked the carrier to explain the reasons for the cancellations and to outline its plans to avoid a repetition of the situation.
HK Express president, Jimmy Ma, and human resources director, Christopher Thomas, also left the carrier, although it was not immediately clear if they were asked to leave or whether they left in a show of solidarity with Cowen. Thomas was replaced by Stanley Yau, a counterpart at Hong Kong Airlines.
Click here for our executive interview with Andrew Cowen in September.
