Oman Air

Oman Air
IATA ICAO Callsign
WY OMA OMAN AIR
Founded 4 June 1993 (1993-06-04)
Hubs Muscat International Airport
Frequent-flyer program Sindbad Frequent Flyer
Fleet size 53
Destinations 50[1]
Company slogan Modern Vision. Timeless Traditions.
Parent company Government of Oman
Headquarters Muscat International Airport, Muscat, Oman
Key people
  • Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Futtaisi, Chairman
  • Abdul Aziz Al Raisi CEO
Website omanair.com

Oman Air (Arabic: الطيران العماني‎) is the national airline of Oman.[2] Based on the grounds of Muscat International Airport in Seeb, Muscat,[3] it operates scheduled domestic and international passenger services, as well as regional air taxi and charter flights. Its main base is Muscat International Airport. Oman Air is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization.

History

Beginnings

Oman Air can trace its root back to 1970, when Oman International Services (OIS) was established. The company became a civil aircraft ground handling provider at Beit Al Falaj Airport.[4] In 1972, OIS moved its operations to the new terminal at Seeb International Airport. The company took over Gulf Air's Light Aircraft Division in 1977, before establishing Aircraft Engineering Division in the same year. Rapidly expanding civil aviation industry of Oman led OIS to the building of several facilities – including hangars, workshops and in-flight catering – to cater for the increase in activity.[4]

In 1981, Oman Aviation Services became a joint-stock company. OAS also purchased 13 aircraft from Gulf Air, allowing the company to replace its turboprops Fokker 27-600 with the −500 series.[4] The following year, Oman Aviation Services jointly commenced jet services, along with Gulf Air, to Salalah. From 1983 to 1993, the company purchased new equipment, including the Cessna Citation,[4] and new facilities to help it improve its services.

Foundation in 1993

An Oman Air Boeing 737-800 with the airline's initial color scheme
A former Oman Air ATR 42-500

In 1993, Oman Air was founded. The airline's start was in March, when a wet-leased Boeing 737-300 from Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services (AWAS) flew from Muscat to Salalah.[5] In July of the same year, the airline's first international flight was operated to Dubai, also using a Boeing 737–300.[4] Flights to other destinations quickly followed, with Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram) services starting in November, Kuwait and Karachi in January 1994, and Colombo in October.[4] In 1995, two Airbus A320s were wet-leased from Region Air of Singapore to replace the 737s. From 1995 to 1997, services were commenced to Mumbai, Dhaka, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Chennai. In October 1998, Oman Air was admitted in the international aviation industry trade group International Air Transport Association (IATA). By the end of the following year, Gwader, Peshawar, Jeddah and Al-Ain were included in the airline's ever-expanding route network, although the former two, along with a host of other destinations, were withdrawn in 2000.[4]

Development since the 2000s

In March 2007, the Omani government recapitalised the airline, which saw the government increasing its shareholding from approximately 33 to 80 percent.[6] It was also announced that Oman Air would be re-evaluating its strategic plans, with a possibility of entering the long-haul market.[6] This culminated in the announcement by the government in May 2007 that it would be pulling out of Gulf Air, and would instead concentrate on developing Oman Air.[7] Oman Air commenced its long-haul services on 26 November 2007 by launching flights to Bangkok and London.[8]

On 2 April 2007, Oman Air announced it had placed a firm order with Airbus for 5 Airbus A330 aircraft for delivery in 2009. At the 2009 Dubai Air Show, Oman Air finalized the order, which involved 3 A330-300s and 2 A330-200s. Deliveries started during the third quarter of 2009. In February 2009, Oman Air announced intentions to lease another 2 A330-200s from Jet Airways.[9] During the 2009 Dubai Air Show, Oman Air Air also finalised an order for five Embraer 175 aircraft with another 5 options, which the airline received from 2011.[10]

In March 2010, Oman Air became the first airline in the world to offer both mobile phone and Wi-Fi Internet services on selected routes.[11][11][12][13] By November 2010, the Omani government held a 99.8 percent stake in the airline.[14] In 2011, Oman Air won the Gold award for the "Airline of the Year" at France's Laurier d'Or du Voyage d'Affaires.[15]

During September 2013 the CEO was quoted as saying that Oman Air was studying to move to a 50 aircraft strong fleet by 2017.[16] In April 2015, Oman Air announced it would phase out its smaller aircraft to focus on an all Airbus and Boeing fleet.[17] The 2 ATR 42-500 aircraft were withdrawn by the end of 2015 while the 4 Embraer 175 and the Boeing 737-700 aircraft will be retired by the end of 2016.[18] In April 2017 Oman Air announced plans to replace the A330s with Airbus A350s or Boeing 787s.

Oman Air has started an incentive scheme for travel agents in February, 2017. The first winner of this incentive scheme was Mr. Sumith K.P of Travel City Travel Agency, he was rewarded with a brand new Mini Cooper for his excellent sales in the first quarter of 2017.[19] The second winner of a Mini Cooper was Mouza Al Kindi of Bahwan Travel Agency for her excellent sales in the second quarter of 2017.[20]

Services

Oman Air Airbus A330-300 Business class cabin

In-flight services

In compliance with Islamic dietary laws, all meals served on board Oman Air are prepared according to Halal guidelines. Special meals are available by request. Alcoholic beverages are served for all customers and are available only on international flights except for Saudi Arabia and Iran routes, in which alcohol is prohibited in both countries by Islamic law.

Airbus A330-300 and Boeing 787 aircraft are equipped with Wi-Fi and mobile network portability on board. The inflight magazine of Oman Air is called Wings Of Oman and is available to all classes of travel on both domestic and international flights in both English and Arabic.

Frequent flyer program

Sindbad is Oman Air's frequent flyer program, launched in 2007. It is a three tier frequent flyer program managed directly by Oman Air. The three tiers are Sindbad Blue, Sindbad Silver which requires 25,000 Tier miles or flown 20 segments on Oman Air in a calendar year and then will require 20,000 Tier miles or 15 Tier segments in a calendar year to maintain the Sindbad Silver Tier level, Sindbad Gold which requires 50,000 Tier miles or 40 Tier segments in a calendar and will require 30,000 Tier miles or 30 Tier segments in a calendar year to maintain the Sinbad Gold Tier. Sindbad has a partnership agreement with the respective program of Etihad Airways and miles can be earned through a number of Sindbad partners.[21]

Destinations

As of September 2018, Oman Air operates a network of 50 destinations in 27 countries out of its primary hub at Muscat. The country that sees the most services is India with 11 destinations.[22]

Codeshare agreements

Oman Air has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:[23]

Fleet

Current fleet

Oman Air Airbus A330-300
Oman Air Boeing 737-800
Oman Air Boeing 787-8
Oman Air Embraer 175

As of July 2017, the Oman Air fleet consists of the following aircraft:[27]

Oman Air Fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers[27] Notes
F C Y Total
Airbus A330-200 4 — — 30 196 226[28]
Airbus A330-300 6 — 6 20 204 230
— 24 265 289
Boeing 737-800 23 — — 12 142 154
144 156
150 162
Boeing 737-900ER 5 — — 12 171 183
Boeing 737 MAX 8 5 25 — 12 150 162[29]
Boeing 787-8 4 4[30] — 18 249 267 Deliveries until 2018[31]
2 are wet-leased from Kenya Airways, to be returned from mid 2018[32][33]
30 204 234
Boeing 787-9 4 3 — 30 258 288
8 24 232 264
Embraer 175 4 — — 11 60 71 To be retired during 2018[34]
Total 55 32

Historic fleet

Oman Air operated the following aircraft previously:[35]

Oman Air historic fleet
Aircraft Introduced Retired Notes
Airbus A300B4-203 1999 1999 Leased from Pegasus Airlines
Airbus A310-300 1999 2009 Leased from Hi Fly
Airbus A320-200 1995 2002 Leased from Lotus Air and Pegasus Airlines
ATR 42-500 1998 2015
Boeing 737-300 1993 1995 Leased
Boeing 737-400 1999 2002 Leased from Pegasus Airlines
Boeing 737-700 1999 2015
Boeing 757-200 1996 1996 Leased from Royal Brunei Airlines
Boeing 767-200ER 2007 2008 Leased from Malév Hungarian Airlines
Bombardier Dash 8-300 1995 2009

Sponsorships

Oman Air became the Presenting Sponsor for the 2015 NBO Golf Classic Grand Final.[36]

Orphaned Palestinian children have visited Al Khoudh child welfare centre. This visit has been sponsored by Oman Air and Dar Al Atta’a.[37]

References

  1. ↑ Oman Air. "Our Networks". Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  2. ↑ "Oman Air Profile".
  3. ↑ Contact Us. Oman Air. Retrieved on 14 August 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "History". Oman Air. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  5. ↑ Kingsley-Jones, Max. "Emerging power". Flight Global. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  6. 1 2 Kaminski-Morrow, David (19 March 2007). "Oman Air goes long-haul". Airline Business. Archived from the original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2008.
  7. ↑ "Oman looks to its local carrier after Gulf Air move". Flight International. 15 May 2007. Archived from the original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  8. ↑ "Expansion 2007". Oman Air. 11 January 2008. Archived from the original on 25 January 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2009.
  9. ↑ Times of Oman. Times of Oman (22 June 2009). Retrieved on 10 December 2010. Archived 10 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ↑ Oman Air buys 5 Embraer 175 E – Jets. Zawya.com (17 November 2009). Retrieved on 10 December 2010.
  11. 1 2 "Oman Air launches full mobile phone and WiFi connectivity on new A330s". Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  12. ↑ "Combined Services Oman Air adds first combined in-flight WiFi and mobile phone services – ..." Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  13. ↑ "WiFi inflight airplane mobile telephony onboard OnAir". Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  14. ↑ "Fact Sheet". Omanair.com. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  15. ↑ "Oman Air wins 'Airline of the Year'". Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  16. ↑ "Oman Air studies move to 50-strong fleet by 2017". Flightglobal.com. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  17. ↑ "Oman Air to phase out ATR, Embraer fleets". Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  18. ↑ "Oman Air". Airliner World: 11. July 2015.
  19. ↑ "Oman Air rewards Top Performing Travel Agent from Q1". Oman Air. 18 June 2017. Retrieved 3 Aug 2017.
  20. ↑ "Oman Air to Rewards Top Performing Travel Agent from Q2 2017". Oman Air. 30 July 2017. Retrieved 3 Aug 2017.
  21. ↑ "Frequent Flyers | Oman Air Sindbad". Sindbad.omanair.com. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  22. ↑ "Oman Air Destinations". Omanair.com. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  23. ↑ "Profile on Oman Air". CAPA. Centre for Aviation. Archived from the original on 31 October 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  24. ↑ "Oman Air signs code share agreement with Kenya Airways". Oman Air. 5 September 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  25. ↑ "Oman Air expands Lufthansa codeshare partnership from mid-July 2018". Routesonline. 9 August 2018.
  26. ↑ "Oman Air and Malaysia Airlines Codeshare Partnership". Oman Air. 29 June 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  27. 1 2 Air, Oman. "Fleet Information – Oman Air". www.omanair.com. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  28. ↑ "Oman Air Fleet Details and History". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved 2018-08-30.
  29. ↑ Boeing. "Boeing Delivers First 737 MAX for Oman Air". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  30. ↑ boeing.com Orders & Deliveries retrieved 23 September 2016
  31. ↑ "Oman Air plans ambitious fleet expansion as 787s & 737s are acquired while ATRs & Embraers are axed". Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  32. ↑ "Kenya Airways to take back sub-leased B777s, B787s". Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  33. ↑ "Oman Air wet leases 787-8s from Kenya Airways". ATW Online. 9 March 2016.
  34. ↑ ch-aviation.com - Oman Air to retire E175s in 2018, keen on widebody order 25 April 2018
  35. ↑ "Oman Air Fleet Details and History". Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  36. ↑ "Oman Air become Presenting Sponsor for the NBO Golf Classic Grand Final". ZAWYA. 6 September 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  37. ↑ "Oman hosts Palestinian children". Times of Oman. 10 July 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2017.

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