Oman Air expects to achieve an operating profit of around RO1 million ($2.59 million) at the end of this year, local press reported.
Dr Hamad bin Hashim Al Dhahab, chairman of Oman Aviation Services Company. said the company was boosted during the past month due to new routes, adopting a new strategy and new medium-size aircraft. Airline operator Oman Aviation Services made a RO 2.86 million ($7.4 million) loss in the first nine months of 2001 due to high maintenance expenditure. The firm, which owns the national carrier Oman Air, posted a RO1.52 million loss in the same period last year. The company's assets dropped to RO17.65 million in the nine months to September 2001 from RO20.3 million a year earlier, while its share capital of RO10.5 million was unchanged. Meanwhile, a senior official said the carrier was considering starting flights to Europe by December this year or certainly by next summer. The airline recently launched two new routes - Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar in East Africa.