Oman Air abandons fleet expansion plan as virus hits flights demand

  • Date: 12-Feb-2021
  • Source: Arabian Business
  • Sector:Transport
  • Country:Oman
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Oman Air abandons fleet expansion plan as virus hits flights demand

Oman Air, the state-run carrier, has abandoned a planned expansion and now aims to reduce its fleet and focus more on codesharing with other airlines as restrictions to curb the pandemic slash demand for flights.

“Going to 70 aircraft, the risks would have been quite high for the country and the airline,” company chairman Mohammed Al-Barwani told local website WAF Oman.

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Instead the carrier will target a fleet of 36 planes, down from the current 50, he said.

Last month, Oman decided to dissolve its air transportation services company, Oman Aviation Group, and divide its operations between the national carrier and the country's airport management firm.

The comments comes ahead of Oman closing its land borders once again as it seeks to protect the sultanate from a new variant of coronavirus.

Oman's Supreme Committee has decided to keep land borders closed for one week, extendable, from Monday at 6pm.

In a statement on the state news wire ONA, it said it had noticed a "growing rate of lenience" among citizens in implementing precautionary measures approved by the authorities concerned.

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