Oman Air to focus on consolidation

Oman Air has said it will go through a phase of consolidation for the rest of 2017, which has been a challenging year for global aviation, including the big players.

Apart from adding to the existing capacity, the national airline hinted at reviewing the new baggage policy that was introduced this year.

Ihab A Sorial, senior vicepresident, sales, told the Observer, “The recently launched Manchester and Nairobi (in March) routes were the two new destinations planned for this year. We want to increase frequencies on the existing routes and not spread thinly across our networks. We need to focus on what we have, strengthen them and move on from there.”

He said the company needs to stay focused on its long and short-term objectives. “Our growth has been not haphazard and it is sustainable. The aviation industry is going through several challenges across the world and the bigger companies are likely to get hit harder. Oman Air is a relatively small airline compared with others and that gives us more room to manoeuvre.”

In March this year, Oman Air announced it would cease operations to Beirut in Lebanon for commercial reasons.

It may be noted the airline had to stop services to Singapore after exploring various options, including routing it via Kuala Lumpur, for some time.

The airline will also stop services to Dhaka, but continue with its other established route in Bangladesh, to Chittagong. “We have to close services to Dhaka due to competition and over-capacity.”

When asked about the research that goes through starting a route, he said, “What you do on the paper is different. You have assumptions and you build the business case on something. But the ground realities change, especially with the new capacities coming.”