Airline passenger news and views

Oman's European freight transport market reaches a new development level as Port of Salalah and Oman Air Cargo sign an agreement to strengthen links between the Sultanate's sea and air transport sectors .

The new sea-air links will help to air-freight cargo arriving at the Port of Salalah from Asia to the key European hubs of Frankfurt and Milan - two destinations of capital importance on Oman Air's network.

Abdulrazaq Alraisi, Chief Commercial Officer at Oman Air, said: "We are already seeing a great deal of interest in our sea-air cargo operations from Salalah."

According to Alraisi, the Port of Salalah currently controls not less than 36 weekly vessel connections to and from Europe and Asia - as well as more than 45 links between regional ports. The port also manages over 3.5 million containers per year.

"These figures are set to increase and Oman Air has been working with the Port of Salalah for some time to develop this new Sea-Air product. Now that the product has taken off, we look forward to adding more points of origin and more destinations to complement our existing network and the services we already provide at the Port of Salalah and at Salalah Airport," he added.

Salalah is Oman's largest port and one of the world's top 30. Only in 2010, the port received over 3,800 vessel calls, handled over 3.5 million of containers and 6m tons of general cargo.

Founded in 1993, Oman Air is the flagship carrier of the Sultanate of Oman and an official 4 Star Airline according to the airlines review site Skytrax in 2011.

The airline has played a major role in making Muscat a center of activity in the Middle East, supporting the commercial, industrial and tourism sectors.

The cargo division of Oman Air has mirrored the rapid growth of Oman Air as a whole. In 2010, Oman Air carried 26,800 tons, increasing its cargo revenues by 238%