[danielharry]

Good Idea, Is this airline travel direct towards dubai

[AMcWhirter]

The news has officially emerged.

Flightglobal.com has posted it online. However some readers may encounter a paywall.

One route cancellation I did not mention (in addition to those I have already noted) was that of Chittagong (Bangladesh).

https://www.flightglobal.com/airlines/oman-air-drops-several-asian-routes-as-part-of-network-restructuring/156674.article

[alistairNicoll]

I flew with them business class from Manchester to Bangkok and I had no complaints indeed I was impressed with the fact that although the cabin was 2-2-2 they had designed things to allow window seats direct access to the aisle.

I could not care less that they have no alliance at the end of the day a decent price is what I want rather than chasing impossible dreams collecting points ( I do about three long haul flights a year)

[alistairNicoll]

I was a regular user of Etihad and they were in business class superb but then following Hogans debacle with Alitalia they unfortunately went downhill and cutting the chauffeur service and closing the Manchester Lounge ( a real gem and outstanding staff) was the last straw.

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[Mark]

I’m torn by Oman Air.
loved the gulf Air (first class)
seat Oman use/used for business class!
Always seemed that their own First was pointless.

Professional enough service. Just lacked any Umph….. for me.

Got me safely from A2B

Etihad rose like a phoenix at the beginning and my flights to Australia were superb,as were the extensive food options.

Then cost cutting came and it lost its lustre.

The A380 is their golden crown 👑
They should let it reign again.

2 users thanked author for this post.

persiantraveller, pdwtrip

[AMcWhirter]

Mark – No worries about EY’s A380s.

As we have reported in Online News EY’s A380s already operate three of four daily flights into LHR.

For a period this month (February) all EY’s four LHR flights will be deployed.

EY’s A380s will be serving New York JFK from April.

Yes more destinations could be added but then EY would have to reactivate its entire former fleet.

[alainboy56]

If you know Oman, it is an Indian terrain – few Pakistanis or Sri Lankans
I worked there from 84-86 – a lovely country with far more ‘sights’, ‘experiences’ and ‘history’ than UAE for example.

Then the old Seeb airport used to host BA B747-100s en-route from AUS, via Sin to LHR – not a very nice flight to board in the early hours, so most of us used to fly by GF, and in those days they had a direct L1011 LHR service on a Thursday night (early Fri morning) GF037, a clean fresh smelling aircraft just for us expats — straight home to ‘blighty’. BA did eventually introduce L1011s themselves directly from MCT (due to the complaints about the Aussie service), and BCAL also started DC-10s from LGW via Riyadh I think, to MCT, but Oman was already slowing down and let’s say being completed. (i.e. less business and construction company traffic).

Salalah still has some traffic, especially in summer. as its a welcome relief from the heat in rest of the Gulf, and there are European charters from Germany and Italy in Winter.

Anyway, I still visit Oman and love its laid back attitude. I also have good Omani friends in Buraimi, who come across to see me regularly as the borders have all been tightened up now since 3 or 4 years. Long gone are the Thurs/Fri visa-less trips across the border to a rather ‘exciting in’ hotel called ‘strangely’ The Buraimi Hotel, it was managed by an Italian called Mario from Milano …… what nights we had there.

Anyway to summarise, Oman air will not survive without help, so QR is its best hope ……… MCT remained open to QR during the embargo period and now, Oman Air leases some of its aircraft to QR to help out on its fleet requirements, I see maybe 2 or 3 A333s in regular use by QR

6 users thanked author for this post.

persiantraveller, AMcWhirter, Johnnyg, cwoodward, pdwtrip, sparkyflier

[AMcWhirter]

Oman Air continues to downsize.

CH-Aviation reports that 10 A330s have now been withdrawn from the fleet meaning a 22 per cent (fleet) reduction.

https://www.ch-aviation.com/news/138693-oman-air-ends-a330-operations?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

1 user thanked author for this post.

BackOfThePlane

[BackOfThePlane]

That is quite some reduction!

[cwoodward]

Those 12 A330s are not so old and are seemingly owned rather than leased
They will I suspect be much sought after if offered for sale.

[Rferguson2]

I just cannot see how they can continue to make some of their Asia – Europe transit traffic competitive. On some routes (MCT – MUC for example, scheduled at 7hr20min) they have gone from IMHO the best hard product out there (APEX suites) to the worst (a recliner on a 737).

Even if they priced significantly less than a competitor I would not choose a recliner on a 5+ hour flight.

2 users thanked author for this post.

persiantraveller, pdwtrip

[AMcWhirter]

With fewer aircraft Oman Air will reduce its flying schedule for summer 2024. Most were effective from last March 31.

Readers who have booked flights in the coming weeks and months must check their bookings.

@aeroroutes has tweeted a long list of Oman Air schedule changes from Muscat.

Fortunately it appears UK schedules remain unaffected.

These are amongst the most significant changes on business routes from Muscat:

Bahrain 10 to 7 weekly flights

Bangalore 14 to 9 weekly flights

Bangkok 18 to 12 weekly flights

Chennai 14 to 11 weekly flights

Dammam 16 to 9 weekly flights

Delhi 14 to 10 weekly flights

Frankfurt 7 to 5 weekly flights

Hyderabad 17 to 7 weekly flights

Kuala Lumpur 10 to 4 weekly flights

Kuwait 14 to 10 weekly flights

Milan 7 to 3 weekly flights

Moscow 7 to 3 weekly flights

Mumbai 14 to 10 weekly flights

Paris CDG 7 to 4 weekly flights

Several routes have been cancelled altogether such as Colombo and Zurich (the latter might resume for the winter season).

2 users thanked author for this post.

persiantraveller, Jacob

[persiantraveller]

Very sad really. This will ruin the airline even more and further…

@BackofThePlane – No, the do not fly to New York of course, they are a very small “boutique” airline, never have flown there. They applied for that route in 2018 and were approved but then didn’t follow through with it, because it isn’t a profitable market and would have been done only for prestige. Also, yes they are focusing more on Paris, Milan, London, and Delhi, as well as other premium markets, and I’m surprised you didn’t mention MXP because it’s a very premium market for the airline and one of the routes that is doing well the most and is always full and makes the most money actually. But they should also fly to MLE and ZRH, and how they actually can’t make good yields there ti the point that they actually have to suspend the route is shocking and impossible to me.

1 user thanked author for this post.

pdwtrip

[persiantraveller]

@AMcW – wow, that’s a crazy reduction in flight numbers… was not expecting that

[persiantraveller]

@alistairnicol It wasn’t just Alitalia – it was airberlin and Jet Airways mostly, and also Virgin Australia.

@Mark – Agree. They have reintroduced the A380 tho, and they became profitable thanks to the leadership of Neves.

@ab56 – I love Oman. Beautiful country. Also, thank you for mentioning Italy, we are the best managers, Milan is the best, others are jealous. And yes, we and the Germans love Salalah, tons of tourists go there every year on charters and I personally have some family who went there and loved it.

[Author]

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