Salamair begins direct flights between...
„Eyes over 10% annual growth in passenger volumes
Salamair, the budget airline of Oman and one of the fastest growing low-cost airlines, yesterday commenced its weekly direct flights on the Muscat-colombo route, with plans to expand into daily flights shortly.
“Salamair is a very young airline with just being established over two and a half years back. Today, Colombo becomes our 26th destination. Sri Lanka is a very important destination for us. In terms of traffic exchange, our forecast is that the size of passenger volumes will increase significantly. We envision a minimum of 10 percent increase on a year-on-year basis,” Salamair CEO Captain Mohamed Ahmed said at an event held at Bandaranaike International Airport yesterday.
He emphasised that Salamair will cater Sri Lanka to attract leisure and business travellers from Oman with Sri Lanka is already gaining traction among Omani tourists as a tourist hotspot.
Vice versa, he remarked that Lankan tourists would find many attractions in Oman, which would be appealing to them, which includes Oman’s rapidly growing retail sector.
Further, the low-cost airline would also offer the Sri Lankan community in Oman a more affordable option in travelling.
The airline’s Muscat-colombo direct route is scheduled to operate four times a week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. A one-way ticket to Muscat is available at a special promotional fare of Rs.19,999.
MAC Aviation Services (Pvt.) Ltd, a fullyowned subsidiary of MAC Holdings (Pvt.) Limited, has been appointed as the general sales agent for Salamair in Sri Lanka.
Speaking to Mirror Business on the sidelines of the event, MAC Holdings Chairman and Managing Director Andre Fernando pointed out that Sri Lanka would be able to attract tourists beyond Oman with Salamair’s entry to the country. “We are looking beyond Oman. We are looking to bring high-spending tourists from destinations such as Turkey and Iran,” he said.
Further, he revealed that MAC Aviation is in discussions with a number of airlines to start their flights to Colombo as the political stability is being restored following the presidential elections.
Salamair flies to international destinations including Chattogram, Dubai, Doha, Jeddah, Karachi, Multan, Sialkot, Shiraz, Kathmandu, Khartoum, Dhaka, Alexandria, Riyadh, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Tehran, Istanbul and to domestic routes Muscat, Salalah and Suhar.
As the airline is aggressively expanding its fleet, Captain Ahmed revealed that daily flights between Colombo and Muscat would be commenced shortly.
“Salamair is a very young airline with just being established over two and a half years back. We will be carrying 1.2 million passengers this year and we expect to carry three million passengers next year,” he said.
Salamair currently operates three Airbus A320 aircraft and four Airbus A320neo aircraft. The airline plans to add its eighth aircraft to its fleet shortly and three more during next year.
Speaking at the occasion, Sri Lankan Ambassador for Sultanate of Oman Omar Lebbe Ameerajwad highlighted that the two nations enjoy historical ties dating back to the ninth century. In particular, he noted that peopleto-people ties between the two countries have been fostering with several Sri Lankans being recognised by the Sultanate of Oman.
Salamair is a joint venture with the private sector holding a 70 percent stake and remaining 30 percent by the government of Oman. In addition, Salamair, Oman Air and Srilankan Airlines offer direct flights to Oman at the moment.