Has anyone come across any further information on this supposed "start up" operator?

Nivsy

Here is their website

Forgive me for wondering, but can Oasis really make this work financially ?
I know that people doubted Easyjet could work, but to charge 30 pounds for a 2 hour one-way flight is very different from charging 75 pounds for a 12-hour flight. All the advantages that no-frills airlines have on short flights - quick turnaround, no need to load meals or clean up afterwards, no need to put cabin crew in expensive hotels before they can go back on duty, etc, etc.... are simply not avilable on a long haul flight - it's difficult to clean a 747 is 10 minutes ! Seatback TVs for all in economy is very different to Ryanair, and more costly.

If one is in the EU, then EU law provides a bit of a safety net - meaning that other carriers on the route are likely to bail you out for a nominal fee although it's still rather inconvenient.

Thing is that Hong Kong is a lot further from London than (for example) Barcelona and the likelihood of BA or Cathay coming the rescue is somewhat slimmer - HK law provides less of a safety net than the EU or UK

Can Oasis really make it work and make a profit, or are they at risk of going under ?

You do raise some valid points however it is unknown what contingency plans the operator will have should they have technical or operational difficulties. I doubt the operator really have prices going at £75 pounds although I understand their business class fares are quite reasonable. I have not been informed of where the B747 400 series aircraft has or is coming from - and would be interested to know if anyone has any information on that.

Nivsy

When you price up the £75 flights (£150 return) and add in taxes and service charges it becomes just over £260 return. Its only 10% of fares that will be offered at the lead in price so you have to get in quick to get the cheapest fares. If its not going to work out financially then I would get in quick if you've ever wanted to get to HK on the cheap. However in that part of the world they do have a habit of making things work..including airlines.

I was wondering what their seat pitch was in Economy...as these are ex-Singapore Airline 747's are they going to be retaining the same seat pitch (which is not that generous, but better than some), and are they inheriting the seat back entertainmant system.

Where did you hearthat aircraft are coming from Singapore Airlines? Is that informed information?

I notice that the web site says 60" pitch for business but fails to mention what they are planning for economy class.

Nivsy

Five flights a week are planned using two former Singapore Airlines' Boeing 747-400s in a two-class configuration of 81 seats in business class and 278 in economy

Says so in Davids article from Travelmole. Also says so on the companies website
http://www.oasishongkong.com/gb/en/aboutus/fleet.aspx

Just noticed the economy seat pitch is 32 inches...again from the website...not bad not brilliant....sounds about the same pitch as the Singapore Airlines 747's had.

You have more patience than me in reading the detail! Well done. Have found out now though that the aircraft were originally bought new in 1989 by Singapore Airlines - so they are not exactly new models but I like the isea of additional competition on the routes to the wonderful HG.

Nivsy

it is definitely good news!

Todays first flight from Gatwick to Hong Kong with Oasis Airlines has gone badly wrong. In fact the flight did not even get airbourne. Appears that there was flight plan problems and the Russian Authorities refused to provide travel through their airspace. Flight subsequently cancelled and its hoped that the flight will depart tomorrow (Thursday)

Nivsy

Oasis Hong Kong suffers delay

Budget long haul carrier Oasis Hong Kong Airlines was forced to postpone its inaugural flight from London due to a last minute hitch.

A 24-hour delay was caused by the refusal of Russian authorites to allow over-flying rights.

The first inbound flight is now due to land at Gatwick this evening, with the first outbound departure at 20.10.

To coincide with the launch, the airline revealed that than three quarters of seats have been sold online.

The carrier, offering tickets starting at £75 plus taxes one-way, claims to have sold 20,000 seats since tickets went on sale on September 6, with 77% of UK sales being made online.

Oasis plans four flights a week from Gatwick in the first month, rising to a daily frequency by the end of November.

The airline hopes to fly around 8,500 passengers to Hong Kong each month.

Besides the lead-in economy fare, Oasis is offering a premium business class, businessOasis, for £470 plus tax one-way.

The airline will also fly to Oakland, California in early 2007 and to other European and North American cities including Cologne/Bonn, Milan, Berlin and Chicago.

CEO Stephen Miller said: "Low fare air travel has already proved a great success in Europe, yet there is clearly an opportunity in the market for a low fare, long haul operator. Our strong ticket sales in the UK indicate that we are primed to fill that gap and we look forward to extending our offer to hubs in Europe and North America.

"Our unique business model, which mixes low fares with personalised options and high quality service, has resonated strongly with people in the UK, and we are very confident in the future profitability of our business and in the demand for our service."

With permission from Travelmole

The flight did take off today and passengers were all given cash coupons and a free air ticket in compensation.

Still does seem confusing why the Russians did 2pull " this flight over their airpsace at the last moment.

Nivsy

Flew back from Hong Kong to London Gatwick last Thursday (2 November 2006) on what I think was only the third flight to the UK on the newly launched Oasis Hong Kong Airlines. Given questions on another thread regarding this new airline I thought I would give a quick run down to the flight for the benefit of others who may be considering flying with this airline.

Flight
O8 700 HKG 01.30 LGW 06.25 (schedule times)

Price (10/10)
1000 HKD (just under £75 GBP) plus taxes. Total paid 1634 HKD (about £114.75)

Reservation (9/10)
Via Oasis web site whilst in HKG on route back from Australia. Fairly painless and straight forward process that took about 10 minutes.

Check in at HKG (6/10)
Flight scheduled to depart HKG at a rather anti-social 01.30hrs. Arrived at the airport nice and early thinking we could check-in a wander the lovely new airport but disappointed to find check-in did not open until 23.15hrs. We had already pre-booked our seats on line that morning (no charge and something that you can apparently do 96 hrs before departure). Surprisingly the on-line system allowed me to reserve 54A and 54C for the two of us, therefore effectively blocking 54B which we hoped would then not be allocated to anyone else. Seven desks opened to check-in this B747 - two for Business Class and five for Economy. The process did however seem painfully slow and despite being near to the front of the queue still took us 45 minutes. We were given a letter at check-in explaining that the flight would take an extra 1h10min due to problems with obtaining permission to fly over Russia.

Baggage Allowance (10/10)
23kgs allowance. Surprised Oasis did not reduce this and charge extra like Ryan Air. Many people had what appeared to be much more weight yet I saw no one at check-in being charged excess.

Boarding (5/10)
Very surprised to find that given the departure time and the fact that the airport was nearly empty (just one CX flight to LHR and one BA also to LHR, both leaving just before us) we were boarded via a coaching gate! Business Class passengers and families with small children were invited to board first - then left to stand on the very same coach that the rest of the passengers travelling in Economy then joined some 10 minutes later!!The first low-cost saving sprung to mind.

Aircraft (7/10)
Ex-Singapore Airlines B747-400. Shiny and freshly painted on the exterior. Inside I was surprised that it was looking a little tired already. Not sure if Oasis had done anything with the interior or just were running it in the state it arrived from SIA in.

Business class on the lower desk had seating arranged in 2 x 3 x 2 configuration. Seats looked comfortable enough but the blue seating covers looked a little grubby.

We were down the back in Economy (purple seat covers). Seating was 3 x 4 x 3, then 2 x 4 x 2 towards the very back of the aircraft.

Comfort (8/10)
Our Economy seats had a rather comfortable 32' pitch. Blankets and pillows had been thoughtfully laid out on each seat for our night time flight. Fortunately the flight was not full so as soon as the seat belt sign was switched off after take-off I moved in to a centre row of 4 and laid out and went to sleep.

Entertainment (6/10)
Whilst it was nice to see individual TV monitors and a choice of about 12 movie titles, the screen was so small and with the seat in front reclined, near impossible to watch anything. I was surprised that Oasis did not charge for the headsets. These were however most uncomfortable to wear and perhaps worth taking your own on board if planning to fly Oasis.

Meals (7/10)
I already had my head under a blanket and was in the land of nod when the first hot snack came around about 40 minutes after departure. A hot breakfast was served about 90 minutes before we landed into LGW - surprisingly nice; choice of English breakfast or Oriental, both free and served with a choice of tea, coffee or water. My breakfast consisted of omelette, bacon, baked beans, roll with butter and jam, melon slices and orange juice. You could also purchase soups and hot pasta type "pot-noodle" snacks plus confectionary and Pringles crisps from the crew if you were hungry.

Drinks (7/10)
I expected to pay for drinks on this low-cost carrier, but having received a free meal and free headsets I was left wondering why they chose to fiddle around charging for tea, coffee and alike, yet missed an opportunity to charge £3 for head seats and perhaps £10 for meals. Soft drinks and tea/coffee were priced at £1 or 15HKD. Wine, spirits and beers also for sale. Good choice on offer and all served on demand by the crew rather than a trolley service down the aisle.

Amenity Kit (1/10)
Not expecting one of course but had to comment on the rather strange option of buying one. Of all the things Oasis could make money on and get you to buy, this seems a strange one to pick. For a staggering £20 for a mini-kit or £25 for a slightly larger kit - I didn't see any takers. I can't see how it can be worth Oasis loading these onto each flight and trying to flog these over priced items to passengers. Far better might have been a duty free selection - which was non existent yet surely a money maker for a low-cost airline with a captive audience?

Crew (10/10)
A very friendly and happy crew.

Flight Time (1/10)
How LONG! 14 hours and 20 minutes!! I couldn't wait to get off the plane! Because Oasis still did not have over flying rights over Russia we took one of the longest routes known. According to the Skymap we seemed to flight north over China, then dive back south/west taking us over a very long routing via Tajikistan, Kazakstan, Uzbekastan, Iran, Bulgaria, Turkey, then into Europe. The various mountainous terrains below led to some rather bumpy flying at times. This long flight time was the draw back for me - but I'm sure once they sort out the problems with the Russian aviation authorities, this will improve.

Value (10/10)
Really can not fault a flight from Hong Kong to London costing just £115 (or £75 without tax). I kept chanting the price to myself in my head whilst counting down the hours of the very long journey. The flight was worth every penny of the amount I paid. That said I just can not see how Oasis can continue to operate flights with seats costing so little money. I'm very surprised that the airline did not look to make additional revenues elsewhere (headsets, duty free/gift items etc).

Grab a bargain whilst you can!

I have just recently returned from Hong Kong on Oasis. I have just written a brief flight report and posted it on this forum. Not sure how to link it with this thread - perhaps one of the Mods can add the link
EDIT: Excellent review Traveller, now merged with original thread David HT Mod

Great trip report Traveller. Sounds like great value for money considering the length of flight. I've paid more than that for flights to the eastern med! I hope they manage to get the overfly rights for Russia sorted since 14+ hours is rather a long time to be sat in an aluminium tube, not to mention the extra environmental cost for extra fuel. I'm lead to beleive they've sold 20,000 seats for forthcoming flights so sounds like a succuss so far.

Darren

Hi,

As Darren says - great report traveller - hope u did ur exercises on board!

great report traveller. It sounds surprisingly good for the money- even with the extra flight time. Let's hope they can stay in business!

Oasis Hong Kong gains right to fly over Russia

Low fare long haul carrier Oasis Hong Kong Airlines is reducing flight times between London and Hong Kong after winning the right to overfly Russia

The airline was granted permission by the Federal Air Navigation Authority in Russia to fly in Russian airspace, reducing the flying time to 10 hours 50 minutes from Gatwick and to 12 hours 20 minutes on the return, depending on prevailing weather conditions.

Oasis, which has taken delivery of a second ex-Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400, claims 73% average passenger load factors on the London route in November, exceeding its expectations.

The airline plans to launch flights from Hong Kong to Oakland, California, in the first half of 2007 followed by Cologne/Bonn, Milan, Berlin and Chicago.

The company is "actively seeking" to acquire up to five aircraft a year and expand its fleet to 25 aircraft by 2010.

CEO Stephen Miller said: "We are delighted we now have permission to fly over Russia. With a more direct flight path, we significantly shorten the flying time for our passengers and are committed to continuing our offering of accessible and affordable long haul travel for Hong Kong people and the many more visitors coming here."

With permission from Travelmole