Boeing 737 for Oman Air
Boeing and Oman Air announced the delivery of the airline’s sixth Next-Generation 737. Oman Air’s new 737-800 arrived at Seeb International Airport in Muscat, Oman. The Boeing 737-800 was an additional purchase added to a five-airplane order. The airline now flies an all-Boeing jet fleet of six Next-Generation 737s, making it one of the most modern fleets in the region.
Oman Air increases flights
Oman Air has increased the frequency of its flights from Muscat to Salalah from 17 to 21 a week, said a report. Officials, said that from June the airline would start flights to Hyderabad and New Delhi. The airline will use a new Boeing aircraft on routes to Kuwait, Bahrain and Doha, according to the report.
New KLM schedule
A new summer schedule is being brought in by KLM to handle an anticipated rise in holiday traffic, according to new Bahrain commercial manager Denzil D’Silva. In June the airline will merge its frequent flyer programmes with Air France to create the Flying Blue programme. "The programme contains four membership levels - Ivory, Silver, Gold and Platinum," said D’Silva. "It will benefit hundreds of our customers from Bahrain." Members of existing frequent flyer programmes at both airlines will retain all the air miles they have accrued so far.
Jet Airways flies to Singapore
Jet Airways has commenced its daily flights between Mumbai and Singapore. The daily flight will be operated by a New Generation B737-800 aircraft especially configured for international operations with 16 seats in Club Premiere (Business Class) and 124 seats in the Economy Class.
New Virgin destination
Virgin Atlantic Airways’ inaugural flight landed at Mumbai International Airport recently with Sir Richard Branson, dressed in dhoti and kurta, a traditional Indian outfit, and media and VIPs onboard. The flight marks the launch of Virgin Atlantic’s second Indian route. The airline already operates daily services to Delhi.
Strong growth for Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific Airways released traffic figures for March 2005 that show continued strong passenger growth yet a more conservative improvement in cargo both during the month and cumulatively over the first quarter. In March the airline carried 1,262,901 passengers, up from 1,158,154 in February, with an upturn in leisure travel over the Easter holiday and an inbound influx for the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament held in Hong Kong, a significant number of which came from the UAE.
Higher passenger load for IA
Indian Airlines (IA) increased its passenger load out of Bahrain by 6.4 per cent between April 2004 and March 2005, compared with the previous year. The airline, which started operations to the Gulf in 1992 with three flights, will soon increase this number to 100, according to IA regional manager (Gulf) Pankaj Srivastava. "We started with flights to Calicut, but since then Cochin was added and the frequency was increased to daily operations," he said. Srivastava was in Bahrain to attend the airline’s annual agents’ award ceremony, held at the Hilton.