Oman Air will commence daily flights to Colombo from June 1 due to an increase in capacity that had grown by 20% over the corresponding period last year, the airline’s country Manager Gihan Karunaratne said.
Addressing journalists in Colombo this week, he made these observations based on the growing tourism industry that was creating an increased potential to improve frequencies to the island’s capital. Speaking with the Business Times he noted that Sri Lanka was among a number of other destinations that have been witnessing an increase in frequencies.
Based on the demand and supply, he explained that compared to the corresponding period last year the load factor had gone up to 80% from 50% within a year.
Presently the airline shares four flights with Male but plans are underway to have seven flights turnaround in Colombo, Mr. Karunaratne said.
From its primary hub in Muscat, Oman Air’s travelers may connect to the airline’s daily services to Colombo and to several of its other overseas international destinations and vice-versa.
The decision to increase from five flights per week to daily creates an opportunity to boost the number of tourists brought into the country, he said.
The passenger load from January – April this year has amounted to 85% on inbound and 88% on outbound. The airline flies mainly from Germany, Paris and the UK in Europe and the Middle East to Colombo.
Oman Air has a fleet of new aircraft with the oldest only one-and-a-half years old while its 8 A330s used to fly between Colombo, Male, Bangkok, Malaysia, Europe and Jeddah. The airline also has 18 737 aircraft in addition to 8 Embraers that are being used within the Gulf region.
In the meantime, the airline is also providing special offers to its customers for online booking; he said adding that this is being carried out with HSBC that offers to match passengers’ TIER status of other frequent flyer programmes.
Other offers include promotional excess baggage offers, special online discounts from 5-10% as well as bonus miles. The Oman Air-HSBC daily flights promotion is effective June 1 for HSBC credit cardholders and will continue until June 30 for online purchases only.
The airline commenced operations to Colombo in November 2009 as its 32nd international destination starting with four weekly flights. |
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