Oman Air global conference looks forward to sustained growth in 2017

Muscat: Oman Air will increase the frequency of its flights to five of the 11 Indian destinations it serves, besides introducing Nairobi, Manchester and Peshawar flights in 2017, the national carrier announced on Wednesday.
Oman Air’s global conference in Muscat on Thursday will centre around fleet and network expansion with a focus on on-board services and development.
The conference will be opened by Maitha bint Saif bin Majid Al Mahruqi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Deputy Chairman of Oman Air, and will be hosted by Chief Executive Officer Paul Gregorowitsch.
Hundreds of staff from all over the world will attend the conference which will also discuss the outlook for Oman Air.
The carrier said it is now less dependent on government support. Such support came down from over OMR100 million to just OMR20 million in 2016 while the airlines increased its contribution to Oman’s GDP by six per cent last year to OMR415 million.
This is projected to grow further to a staggering OMR900 million in 2017, creating employment opportunities for Omani nationals, bringing tourists to the Sultanate, building global connections and last but not the least, supporting small and medium enterprises.
CEO Paul Gregorowitsch said, “The year 2016 was one of significant growth and I would like to offer thanks for the guidance of His Excellency Darwish bin Ismail bin Ali Al Bulushi, Minister Responsible for Financial Affairs and Chairman of our board, the members of the Board, the effective management of our Chief Officers and the dedication of all our colleagues. Our progress in the past year could not have been possible without the ongoing support of all our business partners. These include the Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA) which helped in securing our increasing entitlements and the Oman Airports Management Company (OAMC) which tirelessly helped us to accommodate increasing flights and passenger numbers at a constrained
airport.We look forward to the new passenger terminal opening later this year.
“Together we are on a journey to become the best. Our objectives remain the same and our financial performance needs to be improved further. These objectives are: facilitating Oman Air’s tremendous growth, making money, increasing our market share as airline of first choice and, ultimately, running a safe airline.
To think that all this was achieved amidst an increasingly volatile marketplace and decreasing government support is a good achievement. I am privileged to be able to work with our dedicated and professional teams and partners and look forward to receiving their inputs to ensure that we continue on our successful path in 2017.”