Muscat, Oman Air, the National Carrier of the
Sultanate of Oman, commenced its new daily direct service between
Russia and Oman, with its first flight departing Muscat International
Airport to Moscow Domodedovo Airport today.
The inaugural flight, WY 181 departed Muscat International
Airport at 14:55 after a cake cutting ceremony. The flight to arrive in
Moscow at 19:55. With a flight time of 5 hours and 35 minutes, WY182
departs Moscow Domodedovo Airport at 00.20, arriving into the
award-winning new passenger terminal at Muscat International Airport
at 06.55.
Oman Air’s official delegation to Moscow included its Chief
Executive Officer Eng. Abdulaziz al-Raisi and Chief Commercial Officer
Paul Starrs, and a number of its senior management team. Dmitry
Dogadkin, Ambassador of Russia to the Sultanate of Oman also
accompanied the delegation to Moscow. Upon arrival to Moscow
Domodedovo Airport, Oman Air delegation was received by top ranking
officials.
Eng. Abdulaziz al-Raisi, Oman Air Chief Executive Officer, said:
I am pleased to announce the addition of a new long-awaited route to
our network. Russia is an increasingly important destination from
Oman, and since we announced this route earlier in the year, we have
seen strong interest, both from Oman travellers and from customers
transitting through our Muscat hub from cities around the world.
Connecting Muscat with Moscow, we expect this daily service to further
stimulate economic, trade and business relations between the two
friendly countries. Trade between Oman and Russia continues to rise
and we are happy to be able to facilitate this further with the start of
this service. Oman is turning into a very important regional logistics
hub with world-class infrastructure and we are sure this is recognised
by the business enterprises in Russia. Apart from strengthening and
opening up new business opportunities between Russia and Oman,
our flights will also open the gates for Russian tourists to come and
enjoy our beautiful country.
Dmitry Dogadkin, Russian Ambassador to the Sultanate said in a
statement to Oman News Agency (ONA) that the new route connecting
Muscat and Moscow would have a positive impact in developing the
bilateral relations between the two friendly countries in several fields
particularly areas related to tourism.
He added that this direct route between Muscat and Moscow, as
well as winter flights between Moscow and Salalah would largely
contribute in increasing the number of tourist and business
delegations. These routes would also increase the trade and cultural
exchange between the two countries’ friendly peoples.
This new route will be serviced by Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft,
designed to offer exceptional performance, flexibility and efficiency.
Configured with 162 seats in a two-class configuration: 12 in business
and 150 in economy with significant enhancements across both cabins
� the MAX aircraft is an example of Oman Air’s commitment to
continually upgrading its products and services to deliver guest
satisfaction.
Oman Air’s extensive flight network provides travellers from
Russia a wide variety of options including 11 Indian destinations (Goa,
Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, Delhi,
Lucknow, Bangalore, Kozhikode, and Jaipur), in addition to Indian
Subcontinent destinations, such as Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, all
of which are less than a four-hour flight from Muscat. Oman Air flies
with double and triple daily frequencies to some of these cities
providing guests with more choices and easy connections.
Paul Starrs, Chief Commercial Officer at Oman Air said: Our
new service will provide more choice and greater convenience as more
travellers look to Russia for a holiday getaway. We have done a great
deal of preparation before commencing this route through several
niche events and agent meet-ups and I am confident that this new
addition will be another successful destination for Oman Air. We are
sure that there will be demand for both business and leisure traffic,
allowing us to showcase our own beautiful country to Russian visitors.
Our Russian guests will also be able to take advantage of our fantastic
new passenger terminal in Muscat Airport which houses Oman Air’s
bespoke premium lounges, 6,000 square metres of Duty Free
shopping, 96 check-in counters and a modern 90-room airside hotel.
The new service between Moscow and Muscat is the airline’s
third route launched this year after Istanbul and Casablanca and is
part of Oman Air’s exciting fleet and network expansion programme,
which will see the airline operate up to 70 aircraft to around 60
destinations by 2022.
Source: Oman News Agency