The CEO of Oman Aviation Group says his airline is sticking by Boeing and keeping its plane order despite the 737 Max scandal
- Oman Air, a major Boeing customer, has faced "major" financial impacts and seen its capacity growth plans "significantly curtailed" due to the Boeing 737 Max grounding.
- However, the CEO of Oman Aviation Group - Oman Air's parent company - told Business Insider that the group continues to stand with Boeing and believe in the plane.
- Oman has more than 20 of the 737 Max and 787 Dreamliner airplanes on order from Boeing.
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DAVOS, Switzerland - Oman Air has faced a severe hit to its capacity thanks to the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max. Although the airline only has five of the planes in its fleet, it has 25 more on order, none of which have been able to be delivered since the start of the grounding in March 2019.
Although Oman Air CEO Abdulaziz Al Raisi said in a June statement that the airline would consider cancelling orders and entering talks with Airbus for new planes due to the grounding, the CEO of Oman Air's state-owned parent company, Oman Aviation Group, told Business Insider that he continues to stand by Boeing.
"Boeing is a good friend of Oman. Airbus as well. And Oman is a good friend of everyone," Oman Aviation Group CEO Mustafa Al Hinai said during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "With Boeing, our relationship is going to continue as it is, there is no change in our relation."
The airline has a mixed fleet which includes a combination of Airbus A330 widebody jets, Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Boeing 737 planes - most of which are the older 737 NG series, the predecessor to the Max - and several Embraer regional jets, according to Airfleets.net.
The airline has four Dreamliners and 20 Maxes still on order from Boeing - the Dreamliners will likely prove crucial for Oman's plans to launch a direct flight to New York by 2020.
"Boeing is a very strategic partner for Oman Aviation Group," Al Hinai said. "We ordered 30 aircraft - we've received some, and the rest are still to come."
Airlines around the world have been forced to adjust capacity growth plans and cancel thousands of flights due to the ongoing 737 Max grounding. Oman Air has cancelled as many as 700 flights per month as its current Max planes sit idle, and as others wait to be delivered.
In June, Al Raisi said that the Max grounding had caused a "major" financial impact and had "significantly curtailed" the airline's expansion plans for 2019 and 2020.
Boeing has reached agreements with several airlines for compensation related to the grounding and delivery delays, and Al Hinai expects a similar arrangement.
"I think Boeing is going to come out with a fair proposal to us," he said. "We are waiting for the aircraft, when it is going to come back or there's a final decision on issues with the aircraft."
Relatively few customers have cancelled Max orders during the grounding, with Saudi Arabian airline Flyadeal's order cancellation being the most prolific.
Earlier this month, Boeing announced that it did not expect the plane to return to service before "mid-2020," although FAA chief Steve Dickson said on Friday that it could happen sooner.
Oman Air is planning an aggressive expansion as it seeks to attract business and leisure travelers to the country, as well as connecting passengers traveling throughout the Middle East and Europe.
"We, as aviation, focus on eight destinations, five of them European cities," Al Hinai told Business Insider. "London, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich. Apart from that, we have the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries, and China and Russia."
"The US is a phase two for us. Flying to the US will happen through a codeshare in the meantime, but in late 2021, 2022, we'll be focusing into the US market. Because it's a very big market," Al Hinai said.
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