Oman Air

Oman Air has confirmed that it will start nonstop flights to Karachi from its Muscat hub effective October 1st using a Boeing 737-700. The flight will be flown 4 times a week. The flight schedule is as follows :

WY 801 Dep MCT 1120 Arr KHI 1355
WY 802 Dep KHI 1445 Arr MCT 1515

The carrier also announced that it will be launching flights to Riyadh, Bangkok and Jeddah very soon. Both Saudi cities will be served twice a week nonstop from MCT where as BKK would be served 5 times a week. RUH will receive a B 737-700, BKK will get the A 310-300 and JED will get a B 737-800.

Lastly, the airline has struck a deal with Kuwait's ALAFCO leasing company to lease 6 Boeing 787-800s for 12 years with the first model being delivered in 2012.

Analysis:

WY should tweak their schedules a little bit (depart MCT 10-15 minutes earlier) to allow KHI pax to connect via MCT to LGW in both directions. Under the planned schedule, the outbound KHI-MCT flight has a 45 minute transit in MCT if the passenger's final destination is London Gatwick which is too little as the minimum legal connecting time at MCT airport is 50 minutes. However, inbound from LGW, there is a convenient 90 minute transit at MCT en-route to KHI.