Oman Air prepares to spread its wings

Oman Air is preparing to spread its wings in case the Omani Government withdraws from Gulf Air, said a top executive from Oman Air.

Speaking about Oman Air planning to start new routes next year, its chief executive, Abdulrehman Al Busaidy, said: "We don't envisage new flights this year, but we are looking at London and Far East destinations to add to our existing routes next year and also increase flights on the existing routes."

However, he hinted that the whole planning hinged on the Omani Government's decision on 'whether to continue with Gulf Air'.

"Even if the (Omani) government decides to get out of Gulf Air, we would continue to work closely with them (Gulf Air). It is not our decision so if the government decides to pull out, we are prepared," he said.

And, if the Omani Government decides to continue, "We would go for some of the routes that we have planned. The Far East and in particular Kuala Lumpur looks exciting. We don't fly to the Far East, but we know from the industry trend."

He said pulling out of Gulf Air would not only be an economical, but for political reasons. He further added that employment opportunities for Omani nationals and support for the country's own tourism drive were important. "These are some of the facets to the decision."

After adding eight new destinations since last August, Oman Air currently flies to 11 countries (20 destinations) and has 138 flights a week.

According to Al Busaidi, the airline is planning new flights from next year, to London, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur. He said flights to Kochi and Colombo were doing extremely well. "To the other new destinations, we are doing well according to the criteria we have set for ourselves."

He revealed that the parent company Oman Aviation Services was in breakeven situation in the first seven months of the year.

"Gulf Air have reduced 30 per cent flights to Seeb International airport and as a company our revenues have fallen," he pointed out.

However, he stressed that Oman Air as an airline made a turnaround and justified his claim by giving statistics, "we made a loss of 1.5 million Omani riyals in the period from January to June in 2001, but this year during the same period we have made a profit of 76,000 riyals."

He said Oman Air had invited tenders for the maintenance of its aircrafts. "We have brand new aircraft, thus we won't need major servicing for at least three years," he pointed out.

Al Busaidy stressed that the tenders would be awarded not only to lowest bidders but "quality is our foremost concern."

He insisted that they had a transparent process in awarding contracts. On expansion, he said: "We would need three wide-bodied and one 737".

He said it would be prudent for them to test the waters with leased aircrafts first and then go for an outright purchase. In any case, he added, it takes Boeing at least a year to deliver a new aircraft.

"We started with a capital of 10.5 million riyals in 1981," Al Busaidy said adding that, "Dialogue is on with the government to raise the capital." He hoped by the end of this year the capital of the company (Oman Aviation Services) would be raised.

He said the airline was also making efforts on promotions to create awareness about Oman Air.