08 Feb Interview with Con Korfiatis, CEO of Oman Air
The Oman Vision 2040 strategy positions aviation and tourism as core pillars of national diversification, aiming to boost annual visitor numbers from 3.8 million in 2024 to 12 million in 2040. How would you assess Oman’s value proposition as a tourism destination?
Oman is truly unique, and its tourism assets set it apart from the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council region. In the far north of the country, we have fjords that make you feel as though you are in Scandinavia. To the west, along the coast and inland, we have mountains with peaks reaching 9,900 feet, where the terraces and vistas are phenomenal. Just off the coast, we have reefs, turtles, whales and sharks, it’s perfect for snorkeling and diving. In the middle of summer, Dhofar in the south has its monsoon season. It’s sub-tropical, so it has lush green mountains, gushing waterfalls and palm-lined beaches. You could be in the Caribbean, the Far East or on one of the islands at the equator.
The diversity of what we have is phenomenal. There are different things to enjoy throughout the year, with each season offering its own unique experiences.
Another standout for Oman is that it hasn’t played with the look and feel of what nature has gifted this country. So, when we build hotels, they’re in sync with the terrain. In the capital Muscat, you feel like you are in a resort rather than a big, congested city. Everything is designed to complement the natural assets, and that’s the differentiator.
Oman Air is the sultanate’s national airline. Can you give us some background to the company and explain how it has changed in recent years?
The national airline is key to the success of the tourism agenda for any country. It may not be an economic pillar in itself, but it is a key enabler of the economy, for increasing tourism, business, commerce and trade. It’s also important for connecting those who live here to the world.
Currently, the airline is going through a transformation. It is a legacy airline, over 30 years old, and like all state-owned airlines it has built up lots of inefficient practices and lost its business edge.
We started with our network, as we found out that the vast majority of our traffic was transit traffic. It wasn’t contributing much on the ground: even if it was filling aircraft, people were not getting off in Oman. We thought that was the wrong focus. So, we’ve refocused the network to be far more targeted at places with point-to-point traffic. Now, when we look at routes, if at least half of the passengers don’t get off in Oman, then the route is of less interest to us.
We still have transfer business, but we’re far more focused on the point-to-point, which has moved from 15% to around 55%. We also encourage people who do want to transit through Oman to stop and see the wonderful things that we have to offer through our stopover program.
In terms of operational efficiency and automation, we are introducing best practices. We’re also continuing to improve the customer experience, whether in terms of food or the onboard product. At the moment, we’re evaluating what our next-generation interiors should look like. Also, we are looking into what we need to do in the space of connectivity, entertainment, food and so on.
Today, we have a fantastic product and have been awarded APEX World Class for the past two years, placing us among the top 10 airlines for customer experience in the world. Last year, our lounge was accredited as World Class as well, ranking among the first three in the world to receive this recognition. And we regularly win awards for our cabin crew, seat comfort and food. We’ve got a very proud customer offering.
The business side still needs fixing, and that is currently in progress. We’re on a path toward a “north star” for business transformation, which we expect to achieve around the end of this year, or early 2027. Fixing these foundations creates a platform for growth, enabling us to support and generate business for new infrastructure that is being built, including airports.
We managed to add a couple of destinations in 2025 — Rome and Amsterdam — and we added up to 30% more capacity to Salalah during the popular monsoon season compared to 2024, and we’re proud of that. This also supports the national agenda by facilitating domestic travel.
There are tremendous growth opportunities for Oman Air as industry and tourism continue to develop in the sultanate. We need to spread our wings further, with more aircraft, routes and countries to reach.
What digital tools and other services has Oman Air implemented to enhance the customer journey?
In the last 18 months, we’ve made huge progress on technology, although we still have a lot to do! We’ll announce initiatives as they’re rolling out, in terms of innovations to assist our customer experience on board and beyond.
One of the major things we’ve done is to relaunch Oman Air Holidays: it was an existing product, but underinvested in. We’ve now built a digital platform for it, available on omanair.com, making us a one-stop shop for tickets, accommodation and experiences, all in one payment and under a single booking. We’ve partnered with TUI, which has a tremendous distribution network and a strong brand.
On board, we’ve introduced what we’re terming our “World Class Service,” which earned us the accreditation. It includes new menus, restaurant-style dining and à la carte service. Although we’ve always served a wide selection of international foods, we are also now introducing our guests to Omani cuisine through our Roqaa Omania menu — something we haven’t done before. It’s scoring very well with our customers who are appreciating a taste of Oman. We’ve also redesigned our service-delivery training for our crew, including our tone of voice, as well as the new food service, how it’s presented and the experience it brings.
People who have been to Oman will tell you it’s a wonderful country, with a warm, relaxed feel and abundant natural beauty. They also speak about Omani hospitality, the people, their warmth, friendliness and consideration. At the airline, we do everything we can to embrace those characteristics in our onboard service. We even train our international crew in Omani culture. We want to take that to the world.
How would you describe Oman’s current aviation talent and what is Oman Air doing to close skill gaps in the sector?
As the national carrier, Oman Air plays a key role in generating jobs and supporting Oman 2040 Vision. Our workforce is currently around 80% “Omanized,” and that’s a really high percentage for an international business. If we compare it to national airlines in neighboring nations, we’re off the charts in terms of localization.
Recently, we gained Approved Training Organization (ATO) certification, which is already being used to train our latest batch of cadets. With that, our Future Leaders initiative and other programs, we are ensuring there is a steady stream of young Omanis entering the aviation sector with the skills they need.
Sustainability is becoming central to Oman’s aviation sector. How is Oman Air aligning its operations with efforts to reduce emissions and promote more sustainable travel?
We used to have some older aircraft in the fleet; we’ve exited them and today we have a fleet of modern 787 and 737 MAX aircraft, the latest generation and among the most fuel-efficient in operation. Eco-friendly fuels are a work in progress on global industry level. There are different varieties available, but they’re not yet produced commercially in a way that we can just move immediately to them. It’s a journey, and one that the entire industry is on.
We are also conscious of what we put on board the aircraft, including the weight of items, the use of environmentally friendly materials and recycling practices. We are looking to see what plastics and other things we can take out of our product and putting compostable alternatives on aircraft. There are already some good options out there, so we’re looking at which of those are the best. We remain constantly aware of how the world is developing and what other opportunities there are to find in this space.
Oman Air has joined the oneworld Alliance of international airlines. Is this expanding the sultanate’s connectivity with the US?
Joining the oneworld Alliance has taken us to a whole new stratosphere, giving us access to 900 destinations in the network that we never had before — we currently fly 42 routes with our own aircraft and operate around 90 more through bilateral partnerships.
We see enormous growth potential for US traffic to Oman. We’re an unknown destination there largely, but we don’t want to remain unknown, so we’re making Oman more accessible for travelers from the US. For example, we now fly 11 times a week into London, up from seven, and we serve 10 other European hubs. The opportunity is there for people in the US or anywhere in the Americas, whether Canada or South America, to use the oneworld Alliance and connect to Oman Air from our partner airlines. That also applies to parts of the Far East where we don’t fly directly, such as China, Japan and Korea. Interestingly, we’re now seeing a lot of Australian traffic connecting through Asia and then continuing to Europe. We’re working on encouraging them to discover Oman and stop over here.
My message to US travelers is make Oman one of your bucket-list destinations and you will experience something truly unique. I have never encountered people who have visited Oman and don’t want to come back. So please come; you will be most welcome and we look forward to flying you here.