Oman Air (WY, Muscat) has warned he will start negotiations with Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) if Boeing (BOE, Washington National) fails to provide a promised support and recovery plan for its grounded B737 MAX by the start of the Paris Airshow 2019 on Monday, June 17.
In a statement issued on Friday, June 14, chief executive Abdulaziz Al Raisi said Oman Air had suffered "a major financial impact" as a result of the MAX's absence which, he said, had forced the airline to curtail its growth plans for 2019. This, in turn, had impacted the airline's revenue inflows and market share.
"If I don’t hear back from Boeing before I arrive at Paris Le Bourget Airport, then I will have to go ahead with my planned business lunch with Airbus at the airshow," Al Raisi said in a statement to the Oman News Agency, referring to the Paris Airshow that officially opens on Monday, June 17.
The Omani carrier has five B737-8s that are grounded with the delivery of a further three now suspended indefinitely. Overall, it has twenty more MAX 8s on order. To mitigate the capacity shortfall, Oman Air has had to reactivate its fleet of four E170s while wet-leasing in an A330-300 from SriLankan Airlines (UL, Colombo International).
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Oman Air fleet is dominated by Boeing with twenty-one B737-800s, five B737-900(ER)s, two B787-8s, and seven B787-9s in service. In terms of Airbus, it operates four A330-200s and six A330-300s.
