Hong Kong Express Airways has announced it will transform itself into a budget airline by mid 2012.

As a low cost carrier, it will fly to cities in China, South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia and use the existing traffic rights of Hong Kong Express to operate to Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Osaka and Taipei.

The new budget airline, which has yet to be named, plans to acquire 15 Airbus 320 aircrafts over the next three to four years. According to Yang Jianhong, the president of Hong Kong Airlines, the new budget carrier will be headed by a CEO with a background in European budget airlines.