Oasis Hong Kong Airlines Ltd., the city's 17-month-old budget carrier, said it will stop flying today, becoming at least the fourth airline worldwide to halt operations in less than two weeks amid surging fuel costs. The carrier has applied for a voluntary liquidator and is seeking new investors, Chief Executive Officer Stephen Miller said at a Hong Kong press conference today. The carrier had accumulated losses of as much as HK$1 billion ($128 million) and was losing more than HK$1 million a flight, the Hong Kong Economic Times said earlier today, citing unidentified people. It follows three U.S. airlines in stopping flights after jet fuel prices rose 73 percent in the past year. ``The competition among airlines is fierce in Hong Kong,'' said Edward Wong, an aviation analyst at Quam Ltd. ``The rising oil price affects carriers globally.'' Oasis began flying to London in October 2006 and added services to Vancouver about a year ago. It initially offered tickets to Gatwick for as little as HK$1,000 one-way, less than 20 percent the price then charged by Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. for flights to Heathrow. British Airways Plc, Air New Zealand Ltd. and Virgin Atlantic also fly between the two cities. Oasis passengers with bookings should call the airline's hotline, Miller said at the press conference. KPMG will act as the liquidator, he added. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=axg8wyC02iXc&refer=home Maybe time for shorting oil...
they can only blame themselves for not hedging. lots of executives are not hedging because 'prices are too high', like the traders who waits for a rebound to close a losing investment. maybe they should focus on running their business not speculating on prices
There are too many planes with too many empty seats. Weeding out some weaklings may help the industry overall.