Wednesday, April 23, 2008

oasis hongkong airlines folds

i've been saving up and planning for a possible trip to europe next year. i thought i'd finally see ireland, spend time with friends in madrid, and visit an aunt in portugal.

we all know going to europe is hell on the wallet, which is why i've been planning and saving up in advance. consulting kat mascardo, a budget travel guru (will post something about her soon), the plan was to take oasis hongkong airlines from hong kong and land in london gatwick, since it was a budget carrier. from there, i can just take a plane to madrid or ireland, depending on my itinerary.

but that plan has just dissolved before my very eyes when i read the news that
oasis hongkong has gone into liquidation:
Oasis was well known for offering low-cost tickets from Hong Kong to London for as little as £65 (before tax), undercutting Cathay by around 20 per cent in its early days. The company had been operating daily on this route as well as serving Hong Kong-Vancouver six times a week. But judging by this experience it would seem that the budget concept may not be viable on long-haul flights.

rising oil prices is acting like Death on a lot of businesses, mostly airlines, and more and more carriers are getting the scythe. to confirm everything, i decided to check out the
oasis hongkong website, and true enough, this message was up:
It is with regret that Oasis Hong Kong Airlines announces that the airline has applied to the High Court of Hong Kong Special Administration Region to appoint provisional liquidators on 9 April 2008. The Court has appointed Edward Middleton and Patrick Cowley of KPMG as the provisional liquidators, and they have assumed control of the airline with effect from 1400h the same day Hong Kong time.

for those of us who aren't familiar with the term, "going into liquidation" means:
Liquidation is a formal procedure whereby a liquidator is appointed to ‘wind-up’ the affairs of a limited company, which involves selling the company’s assets and paying creditors. When all the assets have been sold and the money distributed, the company is dissolved, which means that it no longer exists. (taken from CEL Reference Guide: General Liquidation Theories)

the phrase "no longer exists" just keeps echoing in my mind, but this is not over. my airline of choice may have closed down on me, but i am determined to push through with this trip. i have 14 or so months to go, and a lot can still happen.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i've never trusted budget airlines...try thai or singapore air. they're a bit pricey, but worth every penny ang travel. spoiled to death kahit nasa economy ka. better splurge on quality air travel. i did, and ended up sleeping in train stations in europe, pero part of the adventure yun diba? hahahaha!

i gotta go! said...

haha! :D ano ang tagline ng mga "train station hotels" na yan? :P

will seriously consider your advice. pera lang naman ang problema eh. grr. :p

Anonymous said...

hey djong! i read about this on asia weekly. truly sad... however, we shouldn't stereotype all budget airlines as "unreliable." cebu pacific for one, is definitely catching up on PAL's heels. hopefully, air asia's plans of going long-haul will materialize within the next few years... after all, they're one the fastest-growing companies in Asia's airline industry. :)


Kat M.


P.S. Thanks for the kind compliment, although I wouldn't exactly say I'm a "guru." Haha! Just your average, travel fanatic. hahaha! Cheers!

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