Oman Air (WY, Muscat) will proceed with plans to increase its fleet size but has abandoned its Low Cost Carrier ambitions newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Paul Gregorowitsch has said.
During a press conference in Muscat earlier this week, Gregorowitsch said an increase capacity is a key part of the airline's 10-year growth strategy aimed at clawing back market share lost to regional rivals Gulf Air (GF, Bahrain International), Emirates (EK, Dubai International), Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International), and Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International).
Among the aircraft on order from Boeing (BOE, Washington National) are B787-8s, B787-9s, B737-800s, and B737-900s the CEO said adding that Oman Air will also review Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) products to see what they can offer.
"We are talking about two B787-8s and six to eight B787-9s. We are talking about ten units of B787 (planes). We also see the new aircraft to increase frequencies to existing destinations," he told the Oman Times.
The Omani national carrier is also hoping to launch long deferred services to Manila Ninoy Aquino International and Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta from December 2014.
Gregorowitsch also dismissed plans to establish a Low Cost Carrier as outlined under his predecessor, Wayne Pearce, claiming that any such operation would inevitably cannibalize Oman Air's existing traffic.
Despite it generating a total of OMR506million (USD1.3billion) in losses since 2008, the Omani government has continued to underwrite Oman Air on the grounds that it brings a net benefit to the country, in terms of tourism, employment and general economic health.
