Oman launches Sri Lankan routing and warns Boeing over 787 delays

The Oman national carrier is to launch flights to Sri Lanka next week after earlier plans had been shelved following the blocking of the route by the Sri Lankans in a diplomatic row.

Oman Air previously operated the route until 2004 and then suspended it citing lack of traffic as a result of civil war,. The airline had intended to resume flights from Muscat to Colombo on 10 October. But approval from the Sri Lankan authorities was not forthcoming.

Oman Airline is now headed by the former SriLankan Airlines chief executive Peter Hill, who had to put plans on hold until the governments could resolve their issues. Hill continues to keep a home on the island.

Meanwhile, speaking in London on the eve of the World Travel Market, Hill has said that he is losing patience with the Boeing company’s delays on the B787 Dreamliner.

“I really hope they get their act together,” Hill said. “Further delays might mean that we’d have to look elsewhere.”

Boeing says the Dreamliner will fly this year – first flight could happen within the next three weeks - and have even claimed that the first aircraft will be delivered to a customer by the end of the year. The plane’s production schedule has slipped more than two years since the first of five delays emerged in October 2007.

Oman Air has six 787s on order with current delivery plans for 2014. It already has seven A330s from Airbus on order, with the first four scheduled for handover this year.

Hill’s strategy is to work alongside the Omani tourist board to develop the country as a tourist destination – or a stop point to other luxury destinations.

“Oman as a destination is a premium product,” he said in an interview in London. “We’re not really looking for the backpackers, we’re looking for mid- to high-class travellers.”

The carrier has added Paris, Frankfurt and Munich to its route network this year and is considering flights to further European destinations such as Prague and cities in Italy and Scandinavia. It also recently launched flights to the Maldives

It will start four weekly flights to Colombo from 14 November using Airbus A330 aircraft. It will increase this to daily next spring with three additional weekly frequencies using Boeing 737s.

Hill has high hopes for the new route. "Without the clouds of war, Sri Lanka should start to blossom as a major tourism destination," he says.