Oman Air’s Athens flight receives warm welcome

Athens: When the big bird, the Oman Air’s Boeing 737-800, glided down onto the tarmac at Athens International Airport on Saturday, every single member of ground staff had a camera (or a smartphone) in hand, clicking photos furiously. The first flight from Oman had landed.
The carrier launched its daily service to Athens - its 10th destination in Europe - this weekend and, at the end of the first flight, water cannons on the tarmac celebrated the arrival of WY193 at Athens Airport.
The new service between Muscat and Athens is the airline’s 54th worldwide destination and the second route launched this year after Alexandria, Egypt.
It is part of Oman Air’s fleet and network expansion programme, which will see the airline operate up to 70 aircraft to around 60 destinations by 2022.
“Every new route is a new opportunity for us,” said Paul Starrs, Chief Commercial Officer at Oman Air, adding: “Our new service will provide more choice and greater convenience for travellers. We are confident the addition of Athens onto our expanding global network will be appreciated by the business communities, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), as well as holiday seekers looking for new travel experiences.”
The general sales agent of Oman Air in Athens is Gold Air, said Angeliki Synodinou, the account manager of Oman Air in Athens. Athens is the historical capital of Europe, dating from the first settlement in the Neolithic age. In the 5th Century BC, “The Golden Age of Pericles”, the city’s values and civilization acquired a universal significance. In 1834, it became the capital of the modern Greek state and in the two centuries since it has become an attractive, modern metropolis with unrivalled charm.
Greece established diplomatic relations with Oman in March 1974, while accreditation of Ambassador to the two countries took place in 1980. The Greece Embassy is in Saudi Arabia, while Oman is represented in Greece by its Embassy in Rome.
Greece and the Sultanate of Oman have good relations, particularly on a political level, as there is a common approach on many international issues and cooperation within the framework of international organizations.
In March 2018, the Secretary General of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dimitrios Paraskevopoulos visited the Sultanate for talks and, just last month, the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, George Katrougalos, visited Oman and met Yousuf bin Alawi, Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs and discussed bilateral relations.
The Greek Community of Oman says that around 200 Greeks are located in the Sultanate, mostly in Muscat.