Velocity Frequent Flyer members can once again redeem points to fly with Hong Kong Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Capital Airlines for the first time in more than five years.
It comes as Hong Kong Airlines resumes direct flights between Sydney and Hong Kong this week.
But Velocity redemptions on Tianjin Airlines, Virgin Australia’s other Chinese partner airline, have not returned.
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Velocity’s partnerships with Capital, Hainan, Hong Kong & Tianjin Airlines
Virgin Australia launched partnerships with Capital Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines and Tianjin Airlines in 2017, the same year that Virgin Australia first began flying to Hong Kong. At the time, all of those airlines were either owned or partly owned by the HNA Group.
But Virgin Australia ceased flying to Hong Kong in 2020, shortly before it fell into voluntary administration and Velocity suspended all partner airline redemptions. Velocity eventually reinstated partner airline reward bookings in November 2021, except on these four partner airlines.
Since then, and until now, the Velocity website simply said that redemptions on Capital Airlines, Hainan and Hong Kong Airlines were coming back “soon”. But this has now changed, with redemptions on these airlines finally back as of 17 June 2025.
The Velocity website already removed references to redeeming points with Tianjin Airlines some time ago, so that’s not likely to ever return.
Over the past five years, Velocity members have still been able to earn points and status credits when flying with these four airlines based in Greater China. Velocity Silver, Gold and Platinum members can also continue to take advantage of various status benefits when flying with these partner airlines. However, since late 2020 those status benefits have no longer included lounge access.
How many Velocity Points you need to fly with these airlines to/from Australia or New Zealand
Capital Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Hong Kong Airlines all fly to and from Australia. In fact, Hong Kong Airlines just launched a direct Sydney-Hong Kong service as of 20 June 2025. This adds some welcome competition to the route, which until now had been served only by Qantas and Cathay Pacific.
Velocity reward seats on these airlines are priced according to the “other partner airline” table on the Velocity website.
These are the amounts of Velocity Points you’d need to book a reward seat on each of the direct routes to/from Australia or New Zealand on these partner airlines:
| Route | Airline | Economy Class | Business Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne-Haikou | Hainan Airlines | 32,500 | 75,000 |
| Sydney-Haikou | Hainan Airlines | 32,500 | 75,000 |
| Auckland-Haikou | Hainan Airlines | 45,000 | 82,000 |
| Auckland-Shenzhen | Hainan Airlines | 45,000 | 82,000 |
| Sydney-Hong Kong | Hong Kong Airlines | 32,500 | 75,000 |
| Sydney-Qingdao | Capital Airlines | 45,000 | 82,000 |
| Melbourne-Qingdao | Capital Airlines | 45,000 | 82,000 |
| Melbourne-Hangzhou | Capital Airlines | 45,000 | 82,000 |
In addition to the points, you would need to pay any applicable taxes. Velocity does not pass on additional carrier charges when redeeming points on these airlines.
Hainan Airlines and Capital Airlines also offer onward connectivity beyond China to Europe. Hainan Airlines flies from Haikou to London and Moscow. Capital Airlines has flights from Qingdao to London and Moscow, and from Hangzhou to Moscow, Madrid and Lisbon.
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How to book
Unfortunately, reward seats on these three airlines do not appear on the Virgin Australia website. To confirm reward seat availability or make a booking with Velocity Points, you’d need to call the Velocity Membership Contact Centre.
Searching for award availability
While the Velocity call centre is the only place to get 100% accurate information on reward seat availability, there are some things you can do to at least get an indication of what might be available before calling.
One option could be to create a free Fortune Wings Club account, then search for reward seats directly on the Hong Kong Airlines website (or Hong Kong Airlines flights) or the Hainan Airlines website (for Hainan or Capital Airlines flights).
You may also be able to use ExpertFlyer to check for award availability.
Hainan Airlines is one of the (few) airlines that ExpertFlyer’s Award & Upgrade Availability search tool still supports:
For flights on Hong Kong Airlines, you could do a regular “flight availability” search on ExpertFlyer and check for availability in the reward booking fare classes. My understanding is that Hong Kong Airlines uses “Z” class for Business Class award inventory, and “R” class for Economy.
ExpertFlyer is a paid subscription service. If you don’t have a subscription, you could ask an AFF member to do a search for you on our AFF Help Desk forum.
As Hainan Airlines is an Alaska Airlines partner, you would theoretically also be able to search for Hainan availability on the Alaska Airlines website. But the Alaska website only shows Hainan reward seats to/from the United States.
If you’d like expert help, you can also get in touch with our Frequent Flyer Concierge team!
Having trouble finding and booking reward seats?
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