Oman Air, the national airline of the Sultanate of Oman, has launched two new East African routes—to Dar Al-Salaam and Zanzibar—as part of the carrier’s scheme to expand its international network. These new destinations will be served twice a week.
Presently, Oman Air serves 14 destinations, twelve of which are international and two domestic, in Salalah and Khasab. As of June 1, 2002, the airline is scheduled to expand its operations to the Indian sub-continent with seven direct connections to Thiruvananthapuram, six to Chennai, 10 to Mumbai and four or five flights to Kochi.
New international destinations planned for introduction in the near future include Beirut, Lebanon and Mombasa, Kenya, while flight services to the Far East’s Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur are planned to commence next year.
Oman Air also launched a new promotional raffle dubbed 'Fly Free Forever', which will run until December-end 2002, under which two winners will be entitled to life-long tickets to fly once a year to any of the direct destinations operated by the airline.
Commencing operations in 1993, the Muscat-based Oman Air is 34 percent state-owned, with the remaining 66 percent held by Omani individuals and corporate shareholders. The carrier’s fleet currently includes two Airbus A320-325s. Two ATR 42-500s and three Fokker F-27-500 operate on short-haul routes.
Oman Air is the first commercial operator in the Gulf to purchase Boeing's new version of the 737. The company currently operates three new generation Boeing 737 aircraft, with the fourth aircraft scheduled for delivery by May-end 2002. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
