{"id":113764,"date":"2026-03-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/03\/30\/oman-takes-control-of-salamair-2\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T20:23:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T20:23:22","slug":"oman-takes-control-of-salamair-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/03\/30\/oman-takes-control-of-salamair-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Oman takes control of SalamAir"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Omani government <\/strong>just took full control<\/a><\/strong> of state-linked budget air carrier SalamAir<\/strong>, calling time on domestic airline competition in what was likely a move to support the ongoing recovery<\/a> of its flagship carrier Oman Air, which is clawing its way back from a debt-fueled solvency crisis. The acquisition aims to \u201cimprove financial solvency\u201d and reduce overlap across the two networks, Transport Minister Said bin Hamoud Al Maawali said. The value of the transaction was not disclosed. <\/p>\n

The acquisition was made via Asyad, Oman Investment Authority\u2019s (OIA) logistics unit<\/strong>, which bought out SalamAir\u2019s former owner<\/a> Muscat National Development and Investment Company \u2014 a consortium of parastatal entities. <\/p>\n

Managed competition doesn\u2019t work:<\/strong> SalamAir launched in 2017 as a private sector-led (and budget-friendly) alternative to Oman Air. The two had been flying head-to-head for the same passengers on 16 routes<\/a> including Muscat-Dubai and Muscat-Doha. The result: price wars that bled cash from both entities.<\/p>\n

What we think will happen next: <\/strong>While the government says the two will continue to operate independently, Asyad is almost certain to merge back-end operations \u2014 think maintenance, catering, and ground handling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oman quietly ends its experiment in domestic airline competition, folding budget carrier SalamAir into the state's logistics arm to stop the bleeding at Oman Air<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114112,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2471],"tags":[2624,2538,2619,2621,2623,2622,2620],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-113764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-business","tag-enterpriseam","tag-oman","tag-oman-air","tag-oman-investment-authority","tag-privatization","tag-salam-air","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"26156929-8010-4ff0-b664-fed18112be24","order":"6","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"One 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