Hong Kong Express
UO139 Hong Kong - Nanning

Easter is a peak travel period out of Hong Kong, especially since the Ching Ming holiday is also close-by, so many people take the whole week off for a venture abroad. This year, I decided to take a shorter trip to somewhere close by - Guangxi - for some eco-tourism. It wasn't cheap, but relatively cheaper than heading to Korea or Japan.

Hong Kong Express occupies the last row of check-in counters in Terminal 1. There was a dedicated line for group check-in, and several tour groups were going to board today's flight to Nanning. There was a long line to drop my bags, and it took some 20 minutes to clear. By then, it was almost time for boarding. Luckily, security and immigration didn't take too long, and I soon emerged downstairs. Gate 511 is a remote stand, so I had to wait for a dedicated bus instead of the regular shuttle to the satellite terminal.

Staff were kind to broadcast the arrival time of the aircraft and the slight delay as a result for my flight. Once boarding was officially announced, an orderly but long line snaked along the waiting lounge. Looks like a full flight today.

The bus was new and actually had proper seats rather than a huge standing space.

Today's flight would be operated by its sister carrier, Hong Kong Airlines. The A320 looked sleek and had a classy burgundy theme but the carpets were very worn for a seemingly new plane.

Nanning is only an hour's flight from Hong Kong. Take away the ascent and descent time, there isn't much left to serve. Nevertheless, they provided a bottle of water and a small cookie set. It was delicious and the flight attendants came by offering seconds.

The duty free catalogue was very extensive. I didn't expect people buying a pot on a flight.

There were no PTV's, but they were playing a mainland TV show on the overhead screens. For such a short flight, I wasn't expecting much in terms of entertainment.

The clouds rolled in once again as we descended and it was an uneventful landing. Nanning's airport is not that big and there weren't that many planes on the ground. Still, we held on the taxiway for a while before being able to park at the gate. The terminal was an antique. Arrivals and departures shared the gate exit. Airport staff had to put in a metal barrier to separate the two when we exited to immigration.

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