Tomorrow (April 12) Oman Air’s new second daily flight will touch-down at London Heathrow (see news February 25).
But instead of heading towards Oman Air’s usual Terminal 3 the new flight will taxi across to Terminal 4.
Why you may ask? Well, Muscat-based Oman Air bought the slot from Kenya Airways (see news March 2) for the record price of US$75 million.
It is a peak-time arrivals slot and it’s understood there is no free space to accommodate passengers within Terminal 3.
Therefore Oman Air is obliged to use the space previously allocated to Kenya Airways within Terminal 4. (Note Kenya Airways was and still is using T4, but its new slot is now leased from KLM who owns a share of KQ).
Details of this arrangement are now posted on Heathrow Airport’s website.
It is not the first time that airlines have had to split their flight operations at Heathrow.
British Airways is a good example today with flights split between Terminal 5 and Terminal 3. But BA allocates each destination to a specific terminal.
Oman Air’s arrangement has the potential to cause passenger confusion (both for arriving and departing travellers) because it’s using one terminal for its Muscat flight in the morning and another in the evening.
Hopefully the situation will resolve itself when the airline scheduling committee juggle next season’s timings.
It is then that Oman Air will have to decide whether to consolidate its operations at Terminal 3 or Terminal 4.
But in the meantime ensure you use the correct terminal. For those passengers unacquainted with Heathrow, let me assure you that Terminal 3 and Terminal 4 are far apart
The new Oman Air flights using Terminal 4 are:
- WY103 Muscat-London 0125-0630
- WY104 London-Muscat 0825-1850
Existing Oman Air flights using Terminal 3 are:
- WY101 Muscat-London 1400-1905
- WY102 London-Muscat 2050-0720
Alex McWhirter
