Oasis hong kong airlines

[onebir]

only offering flights from oct, but promotional hong kong london gatwick fares GBP75!!! (one way )

[roddy]

From their website

When can I start booking flights on Oasis Hong Kong Airlines? Where will I be able to purchase tickets?

Sales are expected to start in early September 2006 through our Web site and travel agents.

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)

So they're not actually on sale yet (correct me if I'm wrong). Looks interesting though - doubt there'll be many tickets at that price, but budget carriers on UK > China routes would be great.

Clicky

[roddy]

Tickets are on sale now - HK to London Gatwick gets down to 75 quid, 120 when you add in taxes. Website is seriously slow though.

Planned destinations are

* Cologne/Bonn, Berlin and Milan in Europe

* Oakland (San Francisco) and Chicago in USA

Also - and may the saints praise them for this - there don't appear to be any daft 'Oh, to get that price you have to book from the country of departure, on a Tuesday' rules, or punitive fares for single / open jaw tickets. You could fly into Milan, happily hop around Europe with low cost carriers / overland, and then fly back from Gatwick, without having to pay through the nose.

I'm not sure what usual fares on this route are - does 240 quid return, inc taxes, save a great deal.

[Shadowdh]

about £48 if you get the right ticket Roddy... BA do one for about £389 but one travel shop in shaftsbury ave do it for £288...

*edit* oh and thats to Beijing...

[skylee]

Depending on the season, direct return tickets from HK to London can be as low as about HKD 3300.

Qantas is doing a promotion at HKD3280, Air New Zealand at HKD3200. BA, CX and Virgin Atlantic sometimes also offer lower prices at about HKD4000.

[roddy]

Hmmm, the Air NZ one says add taxes of 1560, so that's 4760HKD in total, compared to 240 quid, which is . . . . er . . . 3512HKD? Still a decent saving. Probably not much use for me as the cost of getting to / from HK would cancel out any savings, though. Not sure about the Quantas one, as traditional characters make me dizzy

[skylee]

The tax, fees and charges for such a ticket normally add up to about HKD1500. The BA ticket for my next trip to Spain via Heathrow charges HKD1863 for tax etc.

I guess Gatwick (which Oasis uses) might charge less than Heathrow. I've tried booking one return ticket at the oasis website and the total charge (everything inclusive) is HKD2000. Good price.

[roddy]

I'm wondering if that might be a glitch though - if you go via the UK site and try to book HK > GTW it shows 75 quid, and then when you choose your flight it adds on about 45 quid in taxes, etc. However, if you go to the HK site and book exactly the same flight, it remains the original 1000HKD. Great if it's true, but seems a bit too good to be so.

[skylee]

I agree.

[Shadowdh]

I am wondering if its because its a start up airline... thus it makes great offers to start but then quickly gouges the punters when its up and running... as for the increase that appears tax related via the english part of the site, thats just typical of the UK side... gouge for everything... bas-tards...

[onebir]

One thing people haven't mentioned about the Oasis tickets is this:

there are no restrictions on our one-way fares such as “minimum stay” or “ticket validity”? Just combine your one-way trips whichever way you like – the choice is yours!

I think most of the comparison prices quoted above are restricted, with minimum and maximum stays etc. And you have to choose a return date. Or choose a pricier ticket that charges you for changing the return date. So if your plans are very uncertain, the valid comparison is between single fare for Oasis and other airlines. Other airlines single fares tend to be at least 75% of their returns. So provided Oasis keep their 'return' fares even slightly cheaper than other airlines, their single fares will be a good deal.

[roddy]

Very true.

Incidentally, I just had a quick look and you seem to be able to get the cheapest tickets even for the run up to Christmas. If anyone's interested you might want to snap them up now.

[liuzhou]

Do you have to flap all the way?

[Shadowdh]

Do you have to flap all the way?

LOL... :mrgreen:

Yep but look on the bright side... its only with one arm depending which side your seat is on... either that or you have to keep winding the rubber band...

[onebir]

I just got an email from them. Re the GBP75 fare it says "we guarantee that on every flight 10% of economy seats will be available at this price all year round during our first year".

Not sure what first year means though - could be the first year of actually operating flights, in which case the offers good till late oct 2007 (assuming they dont go bust). But maybe it's advertising puff and they'll date it from some other, earlier milestone.

But with any luck, this'll spark a bit of a price war on europe china routes

[s_clasper]

GBP 75 one way!!! can some one tell me the link i need to use to book tickets on this airline, cant find it. Thanks

[liuzhou]

http://www.oasishongkong.com/gb/en/home.aspx

Google is your friend.

[skylee]

Cheap tickets, greater risks ->

Oasis' inaugural flight delayed until tomorrow

The inaugural flight of budget carrier, Oasis Airlines, has suffered a major setback. Its first flight from Hong Kong to London's Gatwick Airport has been delayed until tomorrow. It remained on the tarmac at Chek Lap Kok all afternoon, with a full complement of more than 300 passengers, including the airline's top executives. Commercial director, Ken Chad, said the setback came after the Russian authorities suddenly revoke the permission to fly over Russian airspace.

甘泉首航取消 改明午出發

廉價航空公司甘泉航空原定今午一時前往倫敦的首航已取消，改為明午一時出發，乘客會獲得補償。

甘泉航空表示，首航倫敦航班受到延誤，因俄羅斯於起飛前一刻在沒有解釋下，突暫停有關飛越航權。他們已準備好所有文件，並已獲得批准，對於乘客造成的不便致歉。甘泉航空主席李卓民說，是俄羅斯一名低級官員最後一刻阻撓，表示有困難。

[Ian_Lee]

Other than Oasis, New Zealand Air also flies the HK-London route starting last week.

Now you got: Cathay Pacific, British Airway, Virgin, Qantas, New Zealand Air and Oasis that provide direct flight between HK and London. Airfare should be able to come down further due to the keen competition.

[onebir]

I just checked Air NZ fares - around xmas time their london-hk one-way fare is GBP492 inc taxes - more than a 3 month (GBP415 inc taxes) and 10 month (GBP405) returns. :s

I guess as Ian says more volume on the route should bring prices down in time though, but given their prices for single flights, it doesn't look like there'll be much impact on single/more flexible ticket prices...