Oman Helps Qatar and immediatly establishes a code share

2017 JUNE Oman Air (WY, Muscat) has dramatically increased capacity on its Muscat - Doha Hamad Int'l route after a diplomatic row between Qatar and four Arab states - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, and Bahrain - exploded last week.



///////// Oman and Kuwait are the only remaining Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to have maintained diplomatic ties with Qatar.

As such, with Saudia, Etihad Airways, Emirates, Air Arabia, flydubai, Gulf Air, and EgyptAir having now terminated all flights to Qatar, with all Qatar Airways services both to and across each state's respective airspaces now banned, Oman Air and Kuwait Airways have become the only bloc carriers to continue to offer connectivity to Doha.

According to Abu Dhabi's National newspaper, Oman Air has added 25% capacity to its Doha services to cater to increased demand for travel.

- Our current estimate shows our flight increase in the last few days has gone up by a quarter more than normal since the diplomatic row started.

We fill up the gaps on transit and direct flights for travellers where Qatar Airways cannot fly or the regional airlines have suspended flights to," an Oman Air spokesman told The National.

- We have five new Dreamliners that were working under capacity which are now taking the new load.

So Oman Air is well equipped at the moment to shoulder the extra flying responsibility without any problem.

As previously reported, Qatar Airways has maintained near regular operations despite having to avoid UAE, Bahrain, and Saudi airspace.

In the case of flights to sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania, and Southeast Asia, its flights have had to circumnavigate the entire Arabian Peninsula resulting in added time and fuel penalties.
Despite these operational hurdles aimed at isolating Qatar, Qatar Airways has remained defiant.

On Monday, June 12, it reaffirmed plans to add a further twenty-four destinations to its network over the coming year, including

DESTINATION: Abidjan - Accra, Cardiff, Chiang Mai, Chittagong, Douala, Dublin (launched on June 12), Kiev Boryspil, Las Vegas McCarran, Canberra, Libreville, Lisbon, Palma Son Sant Joan, Medan Kuala Namu, Mombasa, Nice, Prague, Rio de Janeiro , San Francisco, Santiago de Chile, Sarajevo, Skopje, and Utapao.

www.aljazeera.com

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