Budget Flying

(Hong Kong) Oasis Hong Kong is a budget airline that flies cheap flights to Vancouver and London from Hong Kong. As an example, the Hong Kong-London route costs around $160.

The airline's founders, Priscilla and Raymond Lee, are Christians who are trying to facilitate the exchange of cultures, they say. Consequently, they have offered reduced fares for teachers and the elderly and called their business model a "mission."

Raymond Lee says their model has succeeded because they make their planes work harder, with less time on the ground.

They have also improved fuel efficiency and the long-haul, point-to-point model actually reduces their maintenance costs.

"Make your planes work harder, but working safe," he said.

An investment firm recently plunked down $30 million to help Lee buy 14 secondhand Boeing aircraft to bolster the current fleet of five, which are 10 years old on average.

Second-hand, aging aircraft working harder is an interesting approach. What possibly could go wrong?