New airline plans cheap flights to Hong Kong

A new low-cost airline has announced plans to offer budget flights from London Gatwick to Hong Kong from June, Reuters reports.

Although still awaiting clearance from the authorities, Oasis Hong Kong Airlines is set to become Hong Kong's first no-frills carrier and plans to offer British tourists some tempting deals.

Run by a husband and wife team, the airline plans to undercut the fares charged by rivals flying between London and Hong Kong by 40 to 50 per cent.

That would allow Oasis to offer return tickets between the two locations for as low as HK$1,000 (£75).

Oasis will operate only long-haul routes, something of a rarity for the low-cost flight industry.

But the airline is convinced it can beat market incumbents such as Cathay Pacific Airways by keeping costs to a minimum.

"We'll keep a very lean and mean organisation, and we'll outsource everything we can," said founder Raymond Lee.

Eyeing a stock market flotation in 2007, Oasis is convinced it can operate a 25 strong fleet within five years.

It initially plans to offer flights to London, Chicago, Cologne, Berlin, Oakland and Milan but hopes to fly to 15 destinations by 2011.

Even if Oasis ultimately fails, British tourists could still win in the medium-term, with other airlines operating between London and Hong Kong, such as BA and Virgin Atlantic, expected to chop their prices in response.

© Adfero Ltd

Comments

[Richard D]

This will be awesome...

[manpreet]

Is there any way I can get the contact number of this airline?

[Sabrina Wolfe]

Though Oasis Hong Kong Airlines has set up a website, I have not been able to access the "contact us" page to find a telephone number. If you click on the link in the story above you can see the homepage of its website (it was very slow opening the page, for me, but did get there in the end) - I imagine that as the time comes closer to the launch of the flights it will iron out problems with the site and make its contact details widely available.

Sabrina Wolfe, Editor of Cheap Flight News

[kate]

If there's talk of everyone else lowering their prices are we best just to wait until then rather than wait a life-time on their website?!

[Aline Tanner]

What about the environmental costs of these dirt-cheap flights? The aviation industy should be making positive steps toward tackling climate change (i.e increasing the cost of flights – especially to long-haul destinations) instead of lowering air fares to an all-time low. Gratification over responsibility is how we got our planet in such a mess in the first place.

[David]

Not the fastest website; don't attempt unless you have time.

[Stephen Young]

I've been to their website before. Not the fastest but definitely not as bad as today! Must be because they're swamped with press coverage in the Metro newspaper...

[Larry Baker]

Site averages eight second load time at present and faulters badly as it is lacking bandwidth (heavy traffic loads). Expect this to be corrected soon with new IT chief appointment last week as well as new marketing chief.

Contact remains HQ level and is the same data as on index page, lower right.

This is one venture worth keeping a close eye on and taking advantage of when they taxi in at Gatwick. I wish them much success!

[carrieann]

I have just looked at the website and it wasn't all that slow, but it didn't show you the cost of flights or a booking system.

[amby]

I don't know what everyone's cribbin about. I got the contact details and even spoke to the Chief Executive!

[Tony Ryan]

Just got this sent to me from their faq page. Note that the economy price is £75 one way not return as first quoted.

5. How much will flights cost? How low will Oasis Hong Kong Airlines' fares go?
You can expect year-round fares 30-50% lower than those currently offered by other airlines to the destinations we serve. And some of our promotional fares will be even lower! For example, one-way fares in Economy class start at £75 or HK$1,000 (excluding taxes and charges) and include warm meals and inflight entertainment. And our Business class fares will also be very competitive— so remember to check back often!

[PJ]

Website loaded instantly, looks like this will be a great service to HK when it gets going.

[Cherie]

I had no probs with the site loading. Can't wait to get cheaper flights!

[Sean]

Site loaded well and had no issues with the contacts. Good to have cheaper fares going into Hong Kong finally and great for HK to get their own national airline. I'll definitely be trying it out!

[Helen]

Great news for those of us in business who have to make regular and costly visits. This will really help us. Oasis cant come soon enough.

[millie mac]

Loaded instantly. Can hardly wait until business class prices are shown.

[Paul Fountain]

Went to website, looks good, checked flight availability; easy to manage. Tip: Book at least 6-8 weeks in advance to get best deal and be flexibile. I don't agree that passport details need to be registered, maybe when they're fully established it might be different.

The flight should be interesting!

[Jas Chadha]

One of the deals too tempting to resist. Hong Kong is a nice and interesting place to go for shopping and the money saved in travelling could be used for a better cause...

[Andrew Smith]

I have tried many times to search for flight avilability, but the results never come out. It only took me to another page with a plane flying across extremely slowly. I am giving up.

[Mrs diane davies]

I liked the website. It was very good. I booked my flights in a short while. I am looking forward to the flight. Thank you.

[Alan Davies]

Tried to book my ticket online via their website using my Visa debit card and it would not accept it, apparently will only take Mastercard and credit card payments.

[David Russell]

Booked my flights today with a Visa card: no problem and £522 return for two people. Bargain...

[Kathryn]

I have just booked return tickets for two adults next September for £522 total! After an initial problem with the website telling me the flights weren't available when I tried to confirm booking, I rang them (Sunday pm). The staff were friendly and booked the flights I wanted very quickly. So far, so good. Roll on September, I can't wait...

[Ron]

Booked return flight for November for £262, bargain! Haven't been back to HK for over a year now, I'm excited...

[Mikaela Manning]

Fantastic I can not wait to book my flights and wish Oasis Hong Kong every success.

[sally]

In case anyone is interested Air New Zealand are offering return flights from Heathrow to Hong Kong to travel in November up to 7 December 2006 for £299 return.

[D. Hudson (Mr)]

Being a frequent traveller to Hong Kong, a low-cost air line is just what I've been waiting for.

[hiu ying]

I was on the first Oasis flight from London to HK on October 26. There was unfortunately a 4.5 hour delay! The flight the following sunday was cancelled. But, my return two weeks later was fine, just a slight delay, so I guess they've straightened the first few rough bumps by now.

Though the staff is still a bit inexperienced, for this price you can't be too picky.

[Jon Kirkham]

We used Oasis to go to Hong Kong in February 2007 and found no problems accessing the website, making the booking or flying. We have instantly booked with them again for October as Hong Kong (Macau really) is a real good hub for cheap flights around S. E. Asia.