The news is that Hong Kong Air Cargo (HKAC) is starting up direct flights between Hong Kong (HKG) and Glasgow Prestwick Airport (PIK) on 11FEB25. It is the first Far East airline to serve the Scottish airport and will do so with an Airbus A330-200F, which offers a cargo payload of 60 tons. Two further flights are already scheduled as a potential weekly operation: they will arrive on 18FEB25 and 25FEB25. They are set to bring e-commerce from SHEIN, Temu, and TikTok (all of which operate out of Hong Kong), which will be processed and sorted at PIK, ready for Royal Mail Group and EVRI to take over final mile delivery. PIK’s Business Development team is looking to fill the return flights with favored Scottish exports such as salmon and whisky, selling the point that PIK is a good alternative to trucking these goods to London Heathrow Airport.
Nico Le Roux, Business Development Director, PIK, commented: “The arrival of Hong Kong Air Cargo’s flights is a clear sign that our efforts to develop Prestwick as a leading e-commerce hub are delivering results. We have made significant investments over the past year to improve our cargo handling capabilities and attract traffic from the Far East, with new equipment and the appointment of a dedicated airport representative based in Greater China. This comes on top of expansion based on our recently announced partnerships with Royal Mail Group and Chicago Rockford Airport in the US. The next step is ensuring that the return flights to Hong Kong are fully utilized, presenting a major opportunity for Scottish exporters. Scottish salmon and whisky are highly sought-after in Asia, and this new route provides a direct and efficient means of getting these premium products to the Hong Kong and mainland Chinese market.”
Tony Ma, Chairman, Hong Kong Air Cargo, revealed: “PIK is our first new destination for 2025, and is the ideal choice to support our growing operations into the UK as we will benefit from fast turnaround times and an experienced cargo team. The hub’s location is ideal for our e-commerce flights, with easy access to road and rail connections, as well as by sea to Ireland, and we are looking to fill our return leg with two of the UK’s biggest exports to the Far East by weight. We look forward to working closely with the team at Prestwick to develop this new route.”
