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Muscat: Bahrain raising its stake in Gulf Air to 80 per cent was a one-sided announcement from Manama and Oman knew nothing about it, said a top executive of Oman Air yesterday, while announcing the airline's ambitious plans to expand further.
"It was a one sided announcement and nobody knows about it in Oman," Ziad Bin Karemi Al Haremi, Oman Air CEO, said at a press conference held yesterday.
Nevertheless, the Sultanate's national carrier is gearing up to spread its wings far and wide, especially to long-haul destinations in Europe and the Far East.
"We have plans to fly to London, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta," he announced on the sideline of the airline's two-day conference - titled 'Expect More' - to underline its future plans.
Longer hours
As such, the airline is looking at aircraft that can fly longer hours and have shown interest in the Airbus 330-200, which has set a world record of flying non-stop for 16,910 kilometres from Toulouse in France to Melbourne, Australia.
"We have given a letter of intent to Airbus for the purchase of five Airbus 330-200 aircraft," he said, adding that Oman Air's plans include raising the airline's current 20 routes to 41-42 in future.
However, Al Haremi said that they can't find aircraft in the market even on lease. The Oman Air chief also hinted that they could still go for a mixed Airbus and Boeing fleet. "We want aircraft that could be used for long-haul flights as we want to aid the government's push for developing the tourism industry in the country," he said.
With the government also raising its stake in Oman Air, the airline is looking at rebranding and restructuring.
"We are in the process of appointing consultants, one for rebranding and another for restructuring that could cost us around $1 million," said the airline's CEO.
He also ruled out lowering fares to the Indian sector in the face of competition doing the same. "We will not react like Gulf Air has done," he said, adding that if they resorted to such practice they could take these airlines out of the market. And, he believes that the low fare airlines had created a segment for themselves.
Very tough
He also said that the Indian Civil Authorities were very tough in allowing foreign airlines to newer destinations. "They are easing a bit and we will start flying to two new destinations," he said.
Oman Air will fly to Lucknow from May 1 and to Jaipur from June 1. "We will be the first international airline to fly to Chittagong," he said while announcing that the first flight to the Bangladesh city will take off on May 1.
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