Abu Dhabi’s Rotana Jet seeks clearance to resume Oman flights

Abu Dhabi’s Rotana Jet said it is seeking approvals from Oman Civil Aviation to fly again to Muscat and Salalah Airports, after the authority banned it from operating.

Mughsail Beach in Salalah, above, attracts many tourists from across the Gulf during the season, which begins from mid-July until September. Randolph Caguintuan / Reuters

Abu Dhabi’s Rotana Jet said it was seeking fresh approvals from Oman’s aviation authorities to resume flights to Muscat and Salalah, after the regulator stopped it from operating last month.

Late last month, Oman’s aviation regulator stopped Rotana Jet from flying because it “violated some operational regulations”.

Rotana Jet, which operates out of Al Bateen Executive Airport, said that it had been given a temporary permit to again operate flights to Oman.

“We have received all the approvals from Department of Transport Abu Dhabi which has been forwarded to the General Civil Aviation Authority of UAE to communicate with the civil aviation authority of Oman,” Rotana said. “Rotana Jet has conveyed the same to the Oman civil aviation and [is] waiting for their response.”

Rotana currently has eight passenger and cargo aircraft in its fleet.

Established in 2011, the airline started its international service in June 2013 with flights to Salalah, and later added Bahrain and Muscat routes. It flies four times a week to those destinations.

The carrier said in February that it was also planning to operate long-haul flights and expand its fleet. In April, it started flying to Colombo and Mattala in Sri Lanka, with three flights a week. It plans to increase the frequency to six flights a week in September. Rotana also said that flying to India was in “still the pipeline”.

In the UAE, Rotana flies to Sir Bani Yas Island, Dubai and Fujairah from the capital, and operates between Dubai and Sir Bani Yas. The airline is also looking at flying to Ras Al Khaimah but has no scheduled start date.

Nearly half of Rotana’s domestic passengers are business executives, a quarter are tourists and the rest daily commuters.

About 75 per cent of Rotana’s seats are occupied on domestic flights, rising to 80 per cent for international flights, the airline said.

The number of aircraft visiting Al Bateen Executive Airport jumped by almost a fifth last year.

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