Photo: Oman Air Cargo
Increased exposure from the Hormuz crisis has upped Oman Air Cargo’s growth trajectory for the coming years, leaving the carrier looking to bolster not only its regional services, but its capacity into Asia and Europe, with Africa also on the cards.
Разговаривая с Лодстар on the sidelines of Multimodal in Birmingham this week, European sales manager Lesley Cripps said its quick transfers, support for specialised cargo, and its Gulf road feeder service had been a boon in the turmoil.
“Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi, and the UAE were all shut down by bombing, meaning our profile as a regional carrier increased substantially, Oman being able to offer support in this moment where others could not,” said Ms Cripps.
Asked if the increased exposure led to additional services or development plans, Ms Cripps said long-term planning was affected, noting that alongside new routes into Abu Dhabi, Singapore, and Tashkent, there were further destinations in mind.
One of which she said was “in Europe”, but would not be drawn on specifics other than to say it was intended to commence at the end of the year – further to which, she also pointed to opportunities emerging in Africa.
“Africa is one of the areas we are looking into, we have narrowbodies going into Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam, and there are opportunities to be had in sub-Saharan Africa for sure, but we always have to look at the bigger picture,” Ms Cripps continued.
Short- to medium-term, Ms Cripps believes the carrier will still be heavily involved with supporting regional demands for capacity, particularly given the recent see-sawing over whether the besieged Hormuz waterway is open or closed.
From an airfreight angle, there does appear to be more confidence that the region is again safe to fly into, with Cathay Pacific announcing this morning it plans to resume flights into Saudi Arabia and the UAE, “progressively”, over the next two months.
This phased approach begins with the resumption of freighter services to Riyadh on 1 August, while its daily passenger flight into Dubai and four-times-a-week Riyadh service will recommence on 1 September – it noted all of these were “already open for sale”.
Despite the return of airfreight capacity, Ms Cripps said she did “not think there’s going to be much in the way of sea freight, until we see a complete end and agreement in place”, adding that she therefore believed the road feeder service would continue to operate for some time.
“We were positive we would be able to accommodate needs of customers with an RFS – and we did not start selling the service until we had everything in place, ready to go. That has been very successful,” she added.
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