Dragonair is further strengthening its services to a number of major destinations in Mainland China from August 1, with Chongqing and Xi'an seeing a rise in frequencies to daily, while services to Fuzhou will double to 14 a week.

The number of flights to Busan - Dragonair's latest destination, launched in January this year - will also be raised from three a week to daily from July 1.

The extra services are part of an ongoing initiative to strengthen Dragonair's network after the airline became part of the Cathay Pacific Group in September last year. Since the integration Dragonair has added two new destinations, Phuket and Busan, and increased the number of flights on more than 10 routes in its network. These include upgrading the Kaohsiung service from four to five flights a day and adding three more flights a week to Kota Kinabalu to turn it into a daily service.

"We are pleased to bring more flexibility and convenience for travellers and we now provide at least a daily service to most of our destinations," said Dragonair Chief Executive Officer Kenny Tang.

"The addition of these extra services gives travellers more options, while we can help attract more tourists to visit Hong Kong and boost the city's position as a leading aviation hub."

In addition, Dragonair plans to operate a total of 30 charter services between July 15 and August 26 to meet expected high travel demand over the upcoming summer peak.

The majority of the charters will operate to Japan, with 10 flights to Sendai, the "City of Trees" in Miyagi Prefecture, seven to Kita Kyushu, north of Fukuoka and the doorway to Kyushu Island, three to Miyazaki, also in Kyushu, and three to Kagoshima at the southwest tip of Japan. Another two charters will take travellers to Oita, a city with easy access to Japan's rural delights.

Dragonair will also operate five charter flights to Langkawi in Malaysia to cater for those seeking sun, sea and sand over the summer holidays.

"The summer holiday period is a very busy time for the airline and from our experience Japan is always one of the popular choices for Hong Kong travellers," said Mr. Tang. "We are pleased to be operating these summer charters that will open up fascinating cities not usually covered by flights from Hong Kong."