Cost-cutting helps Oman Aviation Group slash 2020 spend

Oman Aviation Group, the flagship of the Sultanate’s aviation sector, has announced sizable savings in its planned investment and operational expenditures for 2020. It comes on the back of sweeping measures, including substantial employee layoffs, wage reductions, and other cost curtailments across the group. The announcement came in a circular issued by Group CEO Mustafa Mohammed al Hinai to employees explaining the Group’s strategy to weather the current crisis.  The painful measures, he said, were necessary to safeguard the integrity of Oman’s aviation sector, given its importance as a strategically important national asset. “To protect their national assets, aviation companies globally have been forced to make difficult decisions and enact precautionary measures. The aviation sector in Oman is not immune from such exceptional circumstances.  As a national asset which underpins the economy and enables several adjacent sectors across the country, our survival as a sector is a strategic responsibility that cannot be taken lightly,” Al Hinai noted. A Crisis Management Board comprising the chairpersons of the group’s three core business units – Oman Air, Oman Airports, and Oman Aviation Services – is helping steer the group through the current crisis, according to the CEO. “The Board has implemented several measures to cut costs to safeguard the aviation sector's strategic interests and ensure a quick response to this crisis. To date, these measures have resulted in a saving of 42 percent on our pre-approved 2020 operations and capital expenditure investments budget,” said Al Hinai. In the circular, the CEO also announced a “temporary salary reduction for all employees across the Group companies for a period of three months (May, June & July)”.  The cuts are the highest for those in leadership positions and decrease progressively for those in lower positions.