Launched on 1 August this year, the two hour 50 minute flight departs Muscat, Oman at 10.40pm and arrives in Mumbai at 3am the next morning. The return flight leaves Mumbai, India at 4.05am and reaches Muscat at 5.15am.
Oman Air already has two daily return flights between Muscat and Mumbai – the outgoing flights depart Muscat at 1.20am and 9am respectively, arriving in Mumbai at 5.40am and 1.20pm. One return flight leaves Mumbai at 4.15pm to arrive in Muscat at 5.30pm, while the other flight departs Mumbai at 6.55am, reaching Muscat at 8.10am.
Mumbai is the largest city in India and its financial, commercial and entertainment capital. Drawing in around 5 million visitors a year, the city is consistently in high demand among Oman Air guests, especially those from Oman’s large Indian expatriate community.
Oman Air first launched flights to India in the 1990s and the demand for seats has grown exponentially amongst both business and leisure passengers. The new flight is the latest move in Oman Air’s programme of fleet and network expansion and follows a revised air services agreement between the governments of Oman and India in December 2016, when the number of weekly seats was increased to 27,405 seats for both countries, against 21,145 seats in the previous agreement.
The airline is growing its weekly capacity to India with frequencies increasing on five of the airline’s 11 key Indian destinations. Bombay, Delhi and Hyderabad have gone from twice daily to three times daily. Flights to Calicut have grown from once daily to three times daily while Lucknow flights are now twice daily. The airline also launched direct daily flights between Salalah, Oman and Calicut in early 2017. This latest addition from Mumbai to Muscat increases the overall weekly frequency of flights to India from 154 to 161.
Abdulrahman Al-Busaidy, Deputy CEO & Chief Commercial Officer of Oman Air, said: “The addition of this flight is part of our wider commitment to the Indian market. India is a key destination for Oman Air and the demand for all 11 of our Indian destinations has always been high. Increased frequencies offer yet more choice and convenience to our guests, who will now be able to leave Muscat in the evening and arrive in Mumbai the following morning. We are sure this new service will prove just as popular as our other Indian routes.”
