5. 2 Oasis’s Failure in Hong Kong
5.2.1 Background of Oasis
Oasis is a now-defunct long-haul low-cost airline that was based in Hong Kong. It operated scheduled services to London Gatwick Airport and Vancouver International Airport from its hub, Hong Kong International Airport. It was founded by Rev. Raymond C. Lee, and his wife, Priscilla H. Lee in February 2005 and its inaugural route to London commenced service on October 26, 2006. In 9 April 2008, Oasis's CEO Stephen Miller announced that the company would cease operations after suffering an accumulated loss of HK$1 billion (US$128 million). The company operated for only 18 months.
The failure of Oasis was due to several external factors as well as its own management problems. The external factors, which were out of the control of Oasis, can provide investors with insights on how risky the budget air industry is, while the management failure of Oasis is a reference for investors to evaluate the new entrants, namely Jetstar and Hong Kong Express.