Muscat: The much-anticipated increase in quota of airline seats that Oman was expecting for the Indian sector has finally come through.
The Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA) has signed a bilateral air services agreement with its counterpart in India to increase 6,260 seats per week.
PACA took part in the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) ninth Air Services Negotiation Event held in Nassau in the Bahamas, from December 5 to 9, and signed bilateral agreements with Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Bahamas, Caracao, along with India, enhancing air connectivity to these countries.
An agreement was also signed with Australia, following which any number of cargo flights could fly between Avalon Airport in Melbourne, Australia and Salalah Airport.
Dr Mohammed bin Nasser bin Ali al Zaabi, CEO, PACA, stated that these agreements will help strengthen the relations between Oman and these countries. As per the agreement with India, the number of weekly seats was increased to 27,405 for both sides, compared to the earlier 21,145 per week, an increase of 6,260.
Oman also reached an agreement with Saudi Arabia to operate seven additional weekly flights to Jeddah.
Meanwhile, the sultanate has agreed to remove restrictions on the number of flights to Tanzania and Kenya, which were 14 and ten weekly flights respectively.
The agreement with Ghana will pave for 14 weekly flights between the two countries. While the agreement with Bahamas and Curacao (an island country in the southern Caribbean Sea) allows for any number of flights between Oman and these two countries.
The last bilateral agreement between Oman and India was signed in October 2015, where additional 5,131 seats were allotted for airlines of both the countries.
With the additional capacity, Oman Air, which Muscat Daily had reported in September, will most likely fly to new Indian destinations - mainly Kolkata and Ahmedabad. And is expected to further increase its frequency to 11 destinations it is already flying to.
Sunil V A, regional vice president, Oman Air, India, had stated, “We fly to 11 destinations in India and desire to make Kolkata the 12th. We hope to start operating from 2017. All our papers are ready and we are just waiting for the bilaterals to happen. This can take place by the end of this year, or early next year.
“A lot of Bengalis stay in Oman. This flight will be a boon for them. Also, the out-bound traffic from Kolkata would get another carrier which can take them to European, African and other Arab nations.”
The airline currently has about 126 flights per week to Indian cities namely, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram.
Paul Gregorowitsch, CEO, Oman Air was quoted earlier this year by the Indian media that the airline was looking to increase its weekly flights to 175 by 2018.
Read more: http://www.muscatdaily.com/Archive/Oman/Oman-India-sign-pact-to-increase-weekly-airline-seat-quota-by-more-than-6-200-4w4s#ixzz4SoMMulwi
Follow us: @muscat_daily on Twitter | muscatdaily on Facebook