• {{nowrap|Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Futtaisi (Chairman)}}
• {{nowrap|Abdul Aziz Al Raisi (CEO)}}

Oman Air ({{lang-ar|الطيران العماني}}) is the national airline of Oman.^[2] Based at Muscat International Airport in Seeb, Muscat; it operates domestic and international passenger services, as well as regional air taxi and charter flights^[3]. Oman Air is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization.

History

Beginnings

Oman Air can trace its root back to 1970, when Oman International Services (OIS) was established. The company became a civil aircraft ground handling provider at Beit Al Falaj Airport.^[4] In 1972, OIS moved its operations to the new terminal at Seeb International Airport. The company took over Gulf Air's Light Aircraft Division in 1977, before establishing Aircraft Engineering Division in the same year. Rapidly expanding civil aviation industry of Oman led OIS to the building of several facilities – including hangars, workshops and in-flight catering – to cater for the increase in activity.^[4]

In 1981, Oman Aviation Services became a joint-stock company. OAS also purchased 13 aircraft from Gulf Air, allowing the company to replace its turboprops Fokker 27-600 with the −500 series.^[4] The following year, Oman Aviation Services jointly commenced jet services, along with Gulf Air, to Salalah. From 1983 to 1993, the company purchased new equipment, including the Cessna Citation,^[4] and new facilities to help it improve its services.

Foundation in 1993

In 1993, Oman Air was founded. The airline's start was in March, when a wet-leased Boeing 737-300 from Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services (AWAS) flew from Muscat to Salalah.^[5] In July of the same year, the airline's first international flight was operated to Dubai, also using a Boeing 737–300.^[4] Flights to other destinations quickly followed, with Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram) services starting in November, Kuwait and Karachi in January 1994, and Colombo in October.^[4] In 1995, two Airbus A320s were wet-leased from Region Air of Singapore to replace the 737s. From 1995 to 1997, services were commenced to Mumbai, Dhaka, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Chennai. In October 1998, Oman Air was admitted in the international aviation industry trade group International Air Transport Association (IATA). By the end of the following year, Gwader, Peshawar, Jeddah and Al-Ain were included in the airline's ever-expanding route network, although the former two, along with a host of other destinations, were withdrawn in 2000.^[4]

Development since the 2000s

In March 2007, the Omani government recapitalised the airline, which saw the government increasing its shareholding from approximately 33 to 80 percent.^[6] It was also announced that Oman Air would be re-evaluating its strategic plans, with a possibility of entering the long-haul market.^[6] This culminated in the announcement by the government in May 2007 that it would be pulling out of Gulf Air, and would instead concentrate on developing Oman Air.^[7] Oman Air commenced its long-haul services on 26 November 2007 by launching flights to Bangkok and London.^[8]

On 2 April 2007, Oman Air announced it had placed a firm order with Airbus for 5 Airbus A330 aircraft for delivery in 2009. At the 2009 Dubai Air Show, Oman Air finalized the order, which involved 3 A330-300s and 2 A330-200s. Deliveries started during the third quarter of 2009. In February 2009, Oman Air announced intentions to lease another 2 A330-200s from Jet Airways.^[9] During the 2009 Dubai Air Show, Oman Air Air also finalised an order for five Embraer 175 aircraft with another 5 options, which the airline received from 2011.^[10]

In March 2010, Oman Air became the first airline in the world to offer both mobile phone and Wi-Fi Internet services on selected routes.^{[11][11][12][13]} By November 2010, the Omani government held a 99.8 percent stake in the airline.^[14] In 2011, Oman Air won the Gold award for the "Airline of the Year" at France's Laurier d'Or du Voyage d'Affaires.^[15]

During September 2013 the CEO was quoted as saying that Oman Air was studying to move to a 50 aircraft strong fleet by 2017.^[16] In April 2015, Oman Air announced it would phase out its smaller aircraft to focus on an all Airbus and Boeing fleet.^[17] The 2 ATR 42-500 aircraft were withdrawn by the end of 2015 while the 4 Embraer 175 and the Boeing 737-700 aircraft will be retired by the end of 2016.^[18] In April 2017 Oman Air announced plans to replace the A330s with Airbus A350s or Boeing 787s.

Corporate affairs

In-flight services

In compliance with Islamic dietary laws, all meals served on board Oman Air are prepared according to Halal guidelines. Special meals are available by request. Alcoholic beverages are only available on international flights except for Saudi Arabia and Iran routes, in which alcohol is prohibited in both countries by Islamic law.

Airbus A330-300 and Boeing 787 aircraft are equipped with Wi-Fi and mobile network portability on board. The inflight magazine of Oman Air is called Wings Of Oman and is available to all classes of travel on both domestic and international flights in both English and Arabic.

Frequent flyer program

Sindbad is Oman Air's frequent flyer program, launched in 2007. It is a three tier frequent flyer program managed directly by Oman Air. The three tiers are Sindbad Blue, Sindbad Silver which requires 25,000 Tier miles or flown 20 segments on Oman Air in a calendar year and then will require 20,000 Tier miles or 15 Tier segments in a calendar year to maintain the Sindbad Silver Tier level, Sindbad Gold which requires 50,000 Tier miles or 40 Tier segments in a calendar and will require 30,000 Tier miles or 30 Tier segments in a calendar year to maintain the Sinbad Gold Tier. Sindbad has a partnership agreement with the respective program of Etihad Airways and miles can be earned through a number of Sindbad partners.^[19]

Sponsorships

• Oman Air became the Presenting Sponsor for the 2015 NBO Golf Classic Grand Final.^[20]

• Orphaned Palestinian children have visited Al Khoudh child welfare centre. This visit has been sponsored by Oman Air and Dar Al Atta’a.^[21]

Controversies

Oman Air was taken to court wherein it promised low fare and later on did not honor the fare citing technical glitch. ^[22][23]

Destinations

As of September 2018, Oman Air operates a network of 50 destinations in 27 countries out of its primary hub at Muscat. The country that sees the most services is India with 11 destinations.^[24]

Codeshare agreements

Oman Air has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:^[25]

• Emirates
• Ethiopian Airlines
• Etihad Airways
• Garuda Indonesia
• Kenya Airways^[26]
• KLM
• Lufthansa^[27]
• Malaysia Airlines^[28]
• Qatar Airways
• Royal Jordanian
• Saudia
• Singapore Airlines
• SriLankan Airlines
• Thai Airways
• Turkish Airlines

Fleet

Current fleet

As of March 2019, the Oman Air fleet consists of the following aircraft:^[29][30]

Historic fleet

Oman Air operated the following aircraft previously:^[33]

Livery

Original livery

The original livery features a white fuselage and a red vertical stabilizer with the former Oman Air logo. A strip is painted green on the rear fuselage, and the Oman Air Arabic and English logo is painted on top of the windows using the corporate red-green palette. The wingtip is painted red.

Current livery

The current livery also features a white fuselage, but the vertical stabilizer changed to blue, with the new logo painted in gold.

References

External links

• Official website
• Official blog