Back where the dream began
A First Officer's journey home on Delta's Hong Kong inaugural
“I don’t think the little 8-year-old version of me could ever have imagined that the son of an immigrant father, who worked seven days a week as a city bus driver by day and a 7-Eleven cashier by night, would one day fly one of the most technologically advanced machines in the world and for the best airline in the world.”
When Delta Flight 89 touched down at Hong Kong International Airport on June 8, 2026, a water cannon salute arched over the nose of the aircraft in welcome. For most of the crew, this inaugural flight was a chance to be part of a milestone moment. For First Officer Victor Ngai, this was a lifelong dream coming to fruition.
When we landed in Hong Kong, that's when it really hit me," he said.
Victor stepped onto the jet bridge and breathed it in: the warm, humid air. The melodic sounds of Cantonese. He was home.
Born and raised in Hong Kong before immigrating to the United States at 10, looking through the window of his childhood classroom is where his love for aviation began.
Victor’s elementary school sat right next to the legendary Kai Tak Checkerboard approach, where he watched pilots execute one of aviation’s most famous landings.
Before Hong Kong International Airport opened in 1998, the Kai Tak Airport sat in the heart of Kowloon. Flying into the city meant landing amongst densely packed high-rise buildings, using the famous red and white checkerboard as the visual marker to make a dramatic sharp right turn.
“The precision those pilots showed, flying through monsoons and typhoons, sparked a sense of awe I’ve never been able to shake,” he said. “That’s when I knew I had to become a pilot.”
Every day, he watched the jets descend: The rumble overhead, the impossible angle, the controlled precision of each landing. Most of his peers were terrified of the noises – he was captivated.
”I know it's all aerodynamics and physics now," he admitted. "But back then it was almost like magic.”
His path to the flight deck began to take shape in 1994, when his parents moved the family to Salt Lake City, Utah.
Victor graduated high school a year early to attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at 17, where he found his way to the flight deck. His passion carried him through a four-year degree in three years, and later to SkyWest and then Delta.
At Delta in 2025 he was named a Chairman’s Club honoree – the most prestigious award any Delta employee can receive.
“It was humbling and deeply meaningful,” Victor said. “To represent a company I’m incredibly proud of and connect with customers in their native language, especially in a place that means so much to me.”
Often ranked among the most visited cities in the world, Hong Kong is characterized by its emblematic fusion of eastern traditions and western influence.
It’s known for internationally renowned cuisine, densely packed hidden gems and inner-city nature getaways – and now it is also Delta’s newest non-stop destination in the Asia Pacific region.
“As we expand as an airline, by doing what we do best at connecting people, cultures and ideas, we are changing the world for the better one route at a time,” said Victor.
For Victor, operating the inaugural flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, was a homecoming, but it was also a team effort, he said.
“Besides me, there were many others onboard that inaugural flight with ties to the city. For example, one of our language of destination flight attendants Grace was also born in Hong Kong and Ranjan, our Chief Marketing & Product Officer, grew up in Hong Kong.”
He also credits his parents emphatically, recognizing their steadfast encouragement and sacrifices made so that he could pursue his dream job.
“This country and this company have given me and my family so much more than anything we could’ve ever imagined.”
As Victor stood outside his old elementary school, reflecting on where his dream began decades ago, he wanted to tell every kid with a dream:
“You can do it, anybody can do it. You just gotta dream big. Follow your heart.”
Resources
Hong Kong comes to LAX: Delta celebrates a new Pacific connection
Delta Destinations: Your Guide to Hong Kong
Credits
Photographs by Samantha Hurley
Kai Tak Airport: kai-tak-checkerboard-1” by The J-thing, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0