Oman Air cuts losses, raises revenues

Muscat: Eng. Said bin Hamoud al-Ma'awali, the Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, and Chairman of Oman Air, revealed that the national carrier’s net losses by the end of 2023 decreased by about 36 percent and the company’s revenues increased by about 30 percent compared to 2022.

He announced that the return ticket for Omanis in the economy class on ‫Muscat- Salalah route will be fixed at OMR64 and OMR35 for the one-way trip throughout the year while the price will be OMR54 throughout the fall season (round trip).

During the third media meeting to review the developments in Oman Air’s transformation plan, he explained that these results came due to the implementation of the second phase of the transformation plan, which has been undertaken since March 2023, most notably the strategic changes in flight destinations for the winter 2023 season, leading to a reduction in the number of flights on the some routes.

He said that as part of the transformation plan, no routes were closed or any aircraft was grounded or sold.

He said: “All unnecessary expenditures have been stopped in all the departments, such as: sponsorships and a number of unnecessary service contracts have been cancelled or cut.

Oman Air was able to close the fiscal year 2023 without obtaining any additional bank loans or government guarantees, he said, adding

 “The load factors of Oman Air’s fleet improved by 9 percent, as more than 6 million passengers were transported across the company’s various destinations, and more than 45,000 scheduled flights were operated.”

Oman Air will implement a number of radical changes in 2024 to improve its financial and operational performance, including restructuring the route network and flight schedule starting from April 2024.

He explained: “Oman Air’s core commercial and revenue activities will be modernised to improve competitiveness and attract travellers using industry-leading tools and renew agreements with companies with price review and follow-up.”

“During the current year, the company seeks to conclude new agreements with international airlines based on quantitative analysis, while establishing specific pricing mechanisms and controls to ensure that the company benefits fairly from them and rationalise expenses and costs in various departments and operations,” he concluded.