Oman Air has taken delivery of one of two Boeing 737s ordered at the beginning of the year, the airline's general manager Hamad Hashim Al Dahab said.
Oman Air announced in February a purchase agreement with Boeing for two 737s and a five-year lease agreement with US-based International Lease Finance Corp for three more 737s for delivery from December. The addition to the Omani national carrier should allow it to serve new routes, but also to make up for last year's loss of around $7 million by striking "strategic alliances" with other airlines, Dahab said. Last June, Bank Muscat extended a loan of $30 million to Oman Air to help finance its fleet expansion. The loan marked the first phase of syndication from local banks to finance the airline's lease-cum-purchase of the five new generation Boeing 737s. With the streamlining of the new fleet, Oman Air will launch operations to Beirut and Dar-es-Salaam in June next year. The new destinations will coincide with the acquiring of the fourth Boeing 737 aircraft. The airline will take delivery of the second aircraft in next February and the third in May.