DRAGONAIR TAKES DELIVERY OF NEWEST ADDITION

Wide-body A330 Becomes Sixteenth Aircraft in Passenger Fleet

The newest addition to Dragonair’s passenger fleet, an Airbus A330-300, touched down at Hong Kong International Airport today. The 286-capacity aircraft, the airline’s sixteenth, has been purchased as part of an ongoing fleet expansion programme that will see the fleet more than double by 2005.

“This new aircraft is one of two that we will be taking delivery of this year,” said Chief Executive Officer Stanley Hui. “By expanding our fleet we are better able to serve the needs of our customers, providing more frequencies to the destinations they most want to visit. And we are continuing to see a clear demand for our services in the market.

“It also means we have one of the most advanced and youngest fleets anywhere.”

The A330 is powered by two engines from Rolls-Royce, and features a dual-aisle, triple-class cabin with a seating capacity of 30 passengers in First Class, 42 in Business Class and 214 in Economy Class.

The new A330, which can also carry 15 tonnes of cargo, is scheduled to operate on the trunk routes, on which Dragonair has boosted frequencies for the busy summer period. The average age of the airline’s fleet is 2.86 years.

“We continue to invest not only in our fleet but in providing even better services to our passengers to ensure we remain the airline of choice for travel to mainland China and some of the region’s most exciting destinations,” said Mr. Hui. “Examples of this include the launch of The Elite loyalty programme, and the addition of Business Class cabins in each of our A330s.”

Dragonair is a Hong Kong-based airline, operating a fleet of six A330-300s (including the one delivered today), three A321s and seven A320s, in addition to a Boeing 747-200 freighter. It is currently in the midst of a programme to more than double its fleet by the end of 2005, and as part of that will be taking delivery of one more new A330 in June 2001. The airline's passenger network covers 27 destinations across the Asia-Pacific region, while its cargo network connects the markets of Europe, the Middle East, Japan and China.