Hong Kong Express has launched a passenger service to South Korea and is gearing up to launch new services to Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand but it is suspending two services to Japan citing high fuel prices.

The Hong Kong carrier, which operates only Boeing 737-800s, says in a statement that it has launched a four-times-weekly service to Seoul Incheon.

The carrier is planning new routes, starting in October, to: Osaka in Japan, Phuket in Thailand, Denpasar Bali in Indonesia and Manila in the Philippines, it says.

It also says it recently increased services to Okinawa in Japan and is planning other new routes to Japan.

But starting September 1 it is suspending its service to Hiroshima and Okayama in Japan, it adds.

It says these suspensions are only temporary but it fails to give a timeframe for resumption of the services.

These are less-travelled routes and this action is in response to high fuel prices, it adds.

Hong Kong Express is the only carrier operating on the Hiroshima and Okayama routes and it has a twice-weekly and thrice-weekly service respectively, according to Innovata.