Oman Air chief executive Wayne Pearce is stepping down after just two years at the helm of the carrier.
Pearce joined the airline in January 2012 with a wealth of industry experience gained in a range of positions with travel and aviation businesses across Australia, the UK and Middle East.
Omar Air chairman Darwish bin Ismail bin Ali Al Balushi announced Pearce’s departure, saying: “Working with Oman Air’s board of directors, Wayne Pearce has done an excellent job of steering Oman Air through a key phase of our development.
“Following a period of rapid expansion, all the vital elements are now in place for the next phase of our growth, whilst also safeguarding continued increases in passenger numbers.
“Mr Pearce leaves us after introducing greater frequencies on a number of key routes, increasing revenue and passenger numbers and improvement in on-time performance.”
He added: “Oman Air shall remain committed to its strategic priorities while the search of the new CEO takes place; these include pursuing the expansion plan, maintaining the highest standard of service both in quality and safety, promote Oman as one the best tourism and investment destinations and development of human resource capital in the aviation and airline sectors.”
Pearce said: “It has been both a pleasure and an honour to manage Oman Air through this crucial stage of its development.
“I am pleased to have played a role in ensuring that Oman Air is now a more professionally capable airline, whilst maintaining a clear focus on delivering the highest quality standards in all areas of the airline’s operations. The service ethos of the company is now much stronger.
“I am pleased that we have been able to gain a major increase in our passenger seat factor to 76% whilst achieving over a 30% growth in loads with a 16% increase in our seats. Our yields have also grown and last year Oman Air carried five million passengers.”