From the start of the forthcoming winter schedule, British Airways is to introduce new non-stop flights from London Heathrow to both Doha, Qatar and Muscat, Oman. Both destinations are already part of the airline’s network but are currently served with one-stop direct flight routings via Bahrain and Abu Dhabi.
Heathrow’s unique capacity constraints – it is operating at 98 percent capacity – coupled with the high demand from airlines due to strong passenger yields at the airport, mean slots are hard to obtain. The airport currently claims it has a queue of thirty airlines waiting for slots.
The brand will pay homage to Oman’s deeply-rooted culture and long-standing history as an ambassador of peace was among eight names that were initially shortlisted from the poll following internal discussions by ASAAS Board Members and key government entities. A subsequent poll of around 3,000 then voted on the final selection.
This new slot pair has been reportedly purchased from Air France-KLM and will provide an early morning scheduling option for the Middle East carrier and allow it to introduce a second daily rotation on the Muscat – London city pair.
Muscat International Airport broke the one million passenger per month milestone in August 2015 in a strong year of growth for the largest two airports in the Sultanate of Oman.
Under its revised schedule, Oman Air will introduce second daily rotations between Muscat and Bangalore and Kochi; will boost weekly frequencies between Muscat and Lucknow from seven to eleven; will increase flights between Muscat and Jaipur to ten weekly from the current daily offering; and will add one additional weekly flight on the Muscat – Goa route to offer a daily schedule.
The Gulf carrier received its first aircraft from the US manufacturer on October 7, 2015 and the aircraft entered service in the early hours of October 11, 2015 on the WY901 rotation between Muscat and Salalah. It operated three return flights on the route that day and is scheduled to repeat that schedule today (October 12, 2015) and through to the end of the month.
Despite the current political instability in Syria, ChamWings, the country’s first privately-owned carrier, has emerged as an important provider of international air connectivity in and out of the country with links across the Arab peninsula and into North Africa.
British Airways has announced it will introduce its first Boeing 787-9 into its fleet in September 2015 and will initially deploy the larger Dreamliner variant on its route between London Heathrow and Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, India from the start of the winter 2015/2016 schedule in late October.
The new airport, which cost over 300 million Omani riyals, aims to enhance tourism given Salalah’s moderate weather during the summer attracts thousands of tourists from Oman and abroad. The project includes a passenger terminal, which will accommodate two million passengers per annum at the first stage and a 4km long main runway; which can accommodate even the largest airliners in the world.
The Sultanate of Oman Public Authority for Civil Aviation has launched an initial ‘Request for Information’ (RFI) process inviting any parties interested in setting up a low-cost commercial air transport services operator based in the country.
The new flight between its Luxembourg base and the Indian city of Chennai, via Muscat International Airport, will operate from April 15, 2015 and is likely to be the start of an expected rapid growth in the Sultanate.
There are not many countries in the world where six new runways will be constructed and four brand new regional airports opened for traffic in a decade. But, that is exactly what is underway in the Sultanate of Oman over the past few years as the country seeks to diversify its economy away from relying on its oil and gas resources and to focus more on other sectors such as tourism and other areas of business.
The airline will launch flights on eight routes across six countries from Ras Al Khaimah International Airport from May 16, 2014 despite its own Sharjah International Airport hub being just 80km away.
