Oman Air , the national carrier of Sultanate of Oman, has announced the launch dates of double daily flights to New Delhi and Chennai in India and increased its frequency to Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan effective from January 1.While some flights will be in operation from January 1, others will be launched from February 1, an official of Oman Air said.The addition of flights was made possible with the recent signing of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the aviation authorities of India and Pakistan. Starting January 1, Oman Air has increased its frequency to Chennai by four flights and to Delhi by one flight.Six more flights to Delhi will be added from February 1. For Chennai, three more flights will be added from February 1. Till December 2012, it was operating seven flights a week to both the destinations.The additional flight effective January 1 for Chennai is in operation on Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, while the additional flight to Delhi will operate on Sunday," the official said. But, from February 1, the national carrier will operate double daily flights from Muscat to Chennai and Muscat to Delhi all seven days a week.
Oman Air has started seven flights a week to Lahore in Pakistan, from January 1. Earlier, it was four flights a week. The additional flights to Lahore will operate on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. Oman Air has also increased its frequency to Islamabad in Pakistan by three flights effective January 1. Earlier, it used fly three times a week. The additional flights will be operated on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. "From February 1, we will add on one more flight to Islamabad on Sunday making it a daily flight," the official added. The MoU signed in the last week of November 2012 between Omani and Indian aviation authorities paved the way for increasing the number of seats offered by airlines from India and Oman to 16,016 per week, up from 11,550.
After the signing of the MoU, it was agreed that Oman Air will divide these seats over 14 weekly flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai, seven to Bengaluru, Calicut, Jaipur, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Lucknow, in addition to six weekly flights to Goa. "With this announcement, only the launch dates of Goa remains to be announced," a travel agent based in Muscat said.With Pakistan, Oman has signed an agreement where they have decided that they can increase the number of seats between Oman and Karachi airport to 2,600. Further, 16 weekly flights will be launched to a number of cities in the north of Pakistan, including Lahore, Peshawar, Sialkot and Multan. There will be seven weekly flights to Islamabad and seven flights to Turbat.
