SalamAir (OV, Muscat) is commencing a 3x weekly service to Phuket from December 24, its first destination in Southeast Asia, according to an airline press release on December 12.
No other carrier currently operates the city pair, however, Oman Air (WY, Muscat) (18x weekly) and Thai Airways International (TG, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi) (3x weekly) both operate from Muscat to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi.
The SalamAir Phuket flights will depart the carrier's Muscat base at 0400L before arriving in Thailand at 1300L. The return sector leaves Phuket at 1345L and lands back in the Omani capital at 1715L.
Captain Mohamed Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer of SalamAir said, “We are delighted to enter Thailand, a very promising destination for us, given the fact that Oman is a large tourism source market for this popular Southeast Asia country. This new route demonstrates our commitment to continually expand our network. Expansion has been a top priority for us and we are proud to have recorded significant progress on this front this year since we have added several new destinations. We will continue with our network and fleet expansion in 2020.”
SalamAir currently operates three A320-200s and four A320-200neo. Although no timeline is evident at this stage, the low-cost carrier said in press release in November that it was looking to dry-lease two A321-200neo from GECAS.
It flies to domestic destinations including Muscat, Salalah and Sohar. Its international network features routes to the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Colombo International and Dammam have been the most recent additions to its route map, with both services starting last month.
