Dragonair celebrated the launch of its twice-daily service between Hong Kong and Taichung with a cocktail reception held in Taichung city on 28 May. More than 100 guests, including government officials, travel trade and tourism partners, frequent flyers and media representatives, attended the event, which was hosted by the airline's Chief Executive Officer Patrick Yeung.

Mr Yeung was joined by guest of honour Jason Hu, the Mayor of Taichung, and General Manager Taiwan & Korea Vivian Lo to officiate at the ceremony. Among the other distinguished guests was John Leung, Director of the Hong Kong Economic, Trade & Cultural Office.

Speaking at the event, Mr Yeung said: "Taiwan is a very important market for Dragonair and the Taichung service will further boost traffic between Taiwan and Hong Kong. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the authorities in both locations for their great support in getting our Taichung operation up and running smoothly.

"2012 is an exciting year for Dragonair as we expand our network through the addition of at least seven destinations. In addition to Taichung, we have already launched a new service to Jeju in Korea and resumed flights to Xi'an and Guilin. We'll also start new services to Clark in the Philippines tomorrow [29 May], Chiang Mai in Thailand in July, and Kolkata, India, this winter. Dragonair's network will extend to 40 cities in the Asia-Pacific region, further consolidating Hong Kong's position as an international aviation hub," added Mr Yeung.

Dragonair General Manager Taiwan & Korean Vivian Lo said: "Central Taiwan, and Taichung City in particular, is a market with great potential. The Taichung service not only provides passengers with more choice and greater convenience for travel between Hong Kong and Taiwan, but it also offers better connectivity to the extensive regional network of Dragonair and the worldwide network of our sister airline Cathay Pacific."

Dragonair had a charter service to Taichung between 2007 and 2009. The airline's twice-daily service between Hong Kong and Taichung, operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, began on 14 May. Dragonair now operates 77 passenger services out of Taiwan every week, covering three major cities, namely Taipei, Kaohsiung and Taichung.

(From left) Guest of honour Jason Hu, the Mayor of Taichung,
General Manager Taiwan & Korea Vivian Lo and Dragonair CEO Patrick Yeung
officiated at the ceremony to celebrate the launch of the airline's Taichung service.

Guest of honour Jason Hu, the Mayor of Taichung (fifth from right),
Dragonair CEO Patrick Yeung (sixth from left), and General Manager Taiwan &
Korea Vivian Lo (sixth from right), are joined by other honourable guests and
the Dragonair management team to toast the successful launch of the Taichung service.

Dragonair, an affiliate member of oneworld, is a Hong Kong-based airline operating a fleet of 35 passenger aircraft and serving 38 regional destinations, including 19 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.

Note to editor: High-quality photos are available for download from www.dragonair.com, under About Dragonair / Media Centre.

Dragonair web site address: www.dragonair.com