Hong Kong's only budget airline finally made it debut Thursday afternoon after striving for overflight rights from Russia.

 

Oasis Airlines, the first long-haul budget airline in the world, said its maiden flight to London was expected to take off on the same time Wednesday but had to cancel after six hours of delay because of the Russia's refusal of overflight rights.

 

The company said it got the approval to fly over Russian airspace around 20:45 just after they evacuated some 300 passengers and sent them to their home or hotels.

 

Passengers complained about the one-day delay and some passengers who has booked flights from London to other cities said their schedule was severely affected, though each passenger got a HK$500 compensation and a free flight ticket.

 

Oasis Airlines, the first budget airline providing long-haul flight, was established in 2005 by Raymond Lee and his wife. It is expected to provide long distance flights to six cities in the world and London is the first destination.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 27, 2006)