Oman Air to induct new Airbus A330 aircraft

National air carrier Oman Air is all set to fly its new A330 aircraft by the end of August from Muscat. The airline is also adding new destinations in Europe and Asia to its network in the coming months. The first A330 will only have business and economy class. “We will provide a completely new look business class with first class experience. The seats will be bigger and spacious,” said Hamad Saif Al Harthy, senior manager for reservation and global distribution, Oman Air. Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Maldives and Colombo are some of the new destinations the airline will add to its already existing global network.

Flights to Frankfurt and Munich is planned to start by end of September, Paris, Maldives and Colombo by October. Currently Oman Air’s total fleet includes two A330, 13 of 737s and two ATRs. The airline had plans for seven new A330 aircrafts as a part of its expansion plan. This year it is geared for adding four new carriers to its fleet. “Adding the new aircrafts was planned for the last three years, so it is not impacted by the recession,” said Muhannad Mohammad Ba’Haggag, senior officer for corporate communication, Oman Air. Oman is a major tourist destination in the Middle East. “To encourage tourism and to support big business and infrastructure projects happening in the country it is important to have good air network. Oman Air is committed to deliver that,” said Ba’Haggag.

Oman Air, the flagship company in the Sultanate’s civil aviation sector, started operations in 1993. The percentage of government shareholding is 97.96 per cent and others 2.4 per cent. Currently Oman Air has direct international flights to major Gulf destinations from Muscat. The airline also flies to ten destinations in India. It has flights to Bangladesh, Pakistan, London, Bangkok and other destinations. It also operates domestic flights from Muscat to Salalah and Khasab. It is the first airline in the Gulf to introduce the new Boeing NG 737 aircraft series.

Shaheen Air launches Peshawar-Muscat flight

Shaheen Air, Pakistan's second national carrier, has announced the launch of two flights a week from Muscat to Peshawar. Shaheen Air is now operating Boeing 737 aircraft, full economy class with 121 seat capacity on every Sunday and Thursday with uniform timings. Departure from Peshawar starts at 0045 hours and arrival in Muscat is at 0130 hours. Departure from Muscat starts at 0215 hours and arrival into Peshawar is at 1015 hours (via Kuwait.

Shaheen Air was taken over by the TAWA group of companies, Canada in June 2004 and since then Shaheen Air has expanded its fleet and acquired new routes to facilitate air travel at a reasonable price. The Gulf network of Shaheen Air includes Kuwait, Doha, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain in addition to Muscat, which was added in August, 2007. In 2007, Shaheen Air introduced e-Ticketing and online booking with a dynamic pricing structure offering more than 70-80 per cent discount for passengers booking and purchasing tickets in advance. National Travel & Tourism is the GSA for Shaheen Air in Oman.

Air India offers special monsoon fares

After private air-carrier, Jet Airways, it is now the turn of national airline, Air India, to offer monsoon special fares to customers on select destinations on its domestic network. Tickets under this offer can be purchased between June 27-July 3 for travel up to September 10, a company press release said. Under these special fares, travel from Mumbai to Delhi/Chennai/Bangalore/Hyderabad would cost Rs 2,479 all inclusive except user development fee, the release said. Similarly, the fares for Mumbai-Kolkata would be Rs 2,729, whereas fares for Delhi to Mumbai and Kolkata would be Rs 2,479 it said.

Kingfisher aircraft hits bunker at Bagdogra

A Kingfisher Airlines Airbus A320 had a close shave at Bagdogra airport this afternoon when its right wingtip hit a grass camouflaged air force bunker near the runway while taxiing for takeoff. Airline officials said all 178 passengers and six crew members of the Bagdogra-Delhi IT 3334 were safe. “The aircraft suffered structural damage and the bunker wall cracked,” airport director K.K. Bhowmick said. Airline officials claimed there was no chance of a tragedy. But a senior flight engineer in Calcutta said, “Had the aircraft gained speed by then, there would have been a chance of it catching fire.” The incident happened around 3.30pm..

“While executing a 180-degree turn to line-up for take-off, the right wingtip touched the wall of a grass-camouflaged bunker,” a Kingfisher spokesperson said. Airport officials said the air force uses such bunkers to park its fighter planes underground. Aircraft movement was stalled at Bagdogra for more than an hour and Calcutta bound SpiceJet and Kingfisher flights were delayed. A SpiceJet flight from Delhi hovered over the airport for nearly 40 minutes, unable to land. “The flight safety department of Kingfisher is investigating the matter,” the spokesperson said. An Airports Authority of India official said the fault appeared to be the pilot’s. “The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation will conduct an inquiry.”

Air India re-schedules flights at Chennai

Air India has re-scheduled its international flights to and from Chennai since the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will be closing the main runway for six hours everyday from July 1 to September 15 to facilitate construction of linkways. The linkways are being constructed to connect the secondary runway with the main one to enhance the airport's aircraft-handling capacity. The main runway will be closed from 11 am to 5 pm everyday as workers will be using machinery close to it. The runway will be used for flight operations the rest of the time.

A senior AAI official said that more airlines had agreed to re-schedule their flights before work began. The closure period was chosen because there wouldn't be many flight movements then, he added. A couple of international flights would be operated on the secondary runway with load restrictions. An AI official said there would not be much change in the timings of domestic flights which would be operated from the secondary runway with load restrictions. Besides, most of the domestic flights were scheduled before 11 am and after 5 pm.

Kochi airport on high alert

Security personnel at the Kochi International Airport swung into action after the Jeddah office of Saudi Airlines alerted the Bureau of Civil Aviation Securities (BCAS) about an anonymous bomb threat to a flight operating from India to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Airlines authorities reportedly informed the BCAS of the threat, the authenticity of which could not be confirmed, airport sources said. The BCAS subsequently alerted all the airports in the country about the threat, the sources said adding that, it was also not clear whether the threat was to any specific flight, they said. Security measures have been strengthened in and around Kochi airport from Friday night onwards. Additional CISF and Police Personnel have been deployed.