Oman Air (WY, Muscat) CEO Paul Gregorowitsch says his carrier is planning to add twenty more B737 Next Gen in addition to B737 MAX Gen aircraft to its fleet.
Articulating his airline's plans to grow its fleet to seventy aircraft by 2020, Gregorowitsch told Reuters that ten of the B737s would be ordered direct from Boeing (BOE, Washington National) while the other ten would be sourced from lessors.
Deliveries of the NextGen aircraft are scheduled for 2017 while the MAX are due from 2019 onwards, he said. Oman Air plans to use these aircraft to grow its domestic network while increasing service to key regional markets such as the Gulf and India.
Currently, the Omani national carrier operates one B737-700, twenty B737-800s, and two B737-900(ER)s on flights throughout the Middle East as well as to East Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Iran.
Later this year, Oman Air will also make a decision concerning its widebody requirements with the A330neo and the B787 currently under consideration. The carrier's first of nine B787-8s on order from Boeing (BOE, Washington National) is due to arrive in Oman later this year.