More than 240 passengers on local budget carrier Oasis Hong Kong Airlines were stranded in London on Sunday night after two consecutive problems caused the cancellation of a Hong Kong-bound flight at Gatwick airport. Flight O8707 was first delayed by the late arrival of an incoming plane - which was to be the turnaround flight to Hong Kong - and then by a tow bar snapping on a vehicle towing the plane on the tarmac. An airline spokeswoman said the delays meant the flight missed Gatwick's curfew time by a minute. The flight was rescheduled for 11.55am London time yesterday and passengers were put up at hotels near the airport. Originally due to arrive in Hong Kong at 3.40pm yesterday, it will now arrive at 8.30am today. Flight O8707 had been due to leave Gatwick airport on Sunday at 8.10pm. Passenger Chris Chinnery said the incoming flight - scheduled to arrive at 6.10pm - did not touch down until 40 minutes after Flight O8707's scheduled departure time. 'The plane was very late coming in and we set off with a few minutes to spare. We were about to taxi out and push back when the captain announced that the tow bar had snapped, so they were going to be five minutes looking for another one,' Mr Chinnery said. 'Then we got somewhere over halfway down [the taxiway] and we stopped and the plane turned left. Then they made the announcement that we had missed the 11.30pm deadline and the airport was closed.' In Hong Kong, the airline's spokeswoman said the London-bound flight had been delayed by 11/2 hours because its flight path had been rerouted over Central Asia. The flight was further delayed due to heavy air traffic over Gatwick. The late arrival of Flight O8707 in Hong Kong this morning will affect another flight to London. Passengers at Chek Lap Kok airport were told last night that their flight scheduled to depart at 1.30am would now leave at 10am today. Two out of six Oasis flights have experienced long delays. Its inaugural flight on October 25 was delayed for more than 17 hours after Russian aviation authorities revoked permission for the aircraft to fly over Russian airspace. Legislative Council economic services panel member Miriam Lau Kin-yee said the glitches were related to the quality of service rather than aircraft safety, and she urged Oasis to reflect on its service. 'Having budget carriers can create healthy competition but if it is run so badly, how can they create credible competition?' Ms Lau said.
