Oasis Hong Kong Airlines, the long-haul budget airline serving London, is in talks with private equity funds and airlines that could buy into the airline before it goes public in 2009, chief executive Stephen Miller told the South China Morning Post newspaper.The carrier also plans to begin a service to Oakland, California, in June and expects to get approval to fly to Vancouver in three months.

Oasis would take delivery of three Boeing 747-400s by October and planned to deploy 25 aircraft in the next five years, Mr Miller said yesterday. The total cost of the plane acquisitions would be US$2.5 billion.

To fund the acquisitions, Mr Miller said Oasis was in talks with several private equity funds, investment funds and airlines about a pre-listing fund-raising.

“[The price and size of the stake] depends on what type of investors they are and what will they bring us,” he said.

Oasis carried 250,000 passengers in its first nine weeks of operation, overcoming start -up problems that delayed its maiden flight for a day.
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