Dornier 228 Demonstrator Aircraft Tours Oman

RUAG Aviation in partnership with the Aflag Group has introduced the Dornier 228 multi-purpose to Oman at a private reception for senior members of the Royal Oman Police (ROP), Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) and Ministry of Tourism as well as representatives from the private sector at the Al Mouj Golf Course, hosted by Philippe Erni, RUAG Aviation Director of Sales and Sheikh Khalid Al Khalili, Aflag Group Chairman. RUAG Aviation also flew demonstration flights over three days for the ROP, RAFO and Ministry of Tourism key personnel as well as representatives from the private sector.

The Dornier 228 is currently deployed in a number of different roles worldwide including special mission aircraft for maritime and border patrol, pollution monitoring, military utility and training and in the USA, as a sightseeing aircraft for tourism in the Grand Canyon and other areas.

Sheikh Khalid, Chairman of Aflag Group noted, "It is with much pleasure that we welcome the new Dornier 228 to Oman, a next generation version of the iconic aircraft that was successfully operated by DG Police Aviation for over two decades.”

The Comfortable 19-seater Dornier 228 has a number of distinct features like high payload transport, special mission sensor platform, renowned short-field performance, hot and high performance and unprepared airfields. The Dornier 228 is excellent to handle, proven reliable, efficient and highly productive.

"RUAG is owned by the Swiss government and the Dornier 228 is manufactured by its subsidiary in Germany and is honoured to have been invited to present the new generation Dornier 228 which can enhance the capabilities of Oman." stated Philippe Erni RUAG Aviation Director of Sales.

"No other aircraft can perform surveillance flights more efficiently than the Dornier 228. The borders of the Sultanate and the EEZ can be supervised in the most cost-efficient ways" added Erni.

On the military side, the Dornier 228 is the ideal training aircraft for transport pilots. With its state-of-the-art cockpit, young pilots learn to handle a modern glass cockpit and the Flight Management System, as well as crew coordination. Simultaneously, the aircraft can be used as transport aircraft with a payload up to two tonnes. A flight hour on the Dornier 228 costs only a fraction of the costs of other comparable transport aircraft. As used in the USA, the Dornier 228 is the ideal sightseeing aircraft, with each seat being by a window.

Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Shaikh Khalid explained, "The Dornier 228 would complement the development of a new tourism sector with scenic flights in Oman whilst creating top engineering and management jobs. Furthermore, the passenger version can link the airports of the Sultanate in a hub-and-spoke system (with Muscat and Salalah being the hubs) and creating jobs all over the country.”