CEO Interview: Con Korfiatis on Oman Air’s Outlook

‍DUBAI — 2025 has been an important year for Oman Air’s (WY) transformation. At the 2025 Dubai Airshow, I once again met with Con Korfiatis, WY’s CEO, to discuss the airline’s outlook for the future.

This year marked a pivotal year in WY’s transformation, with new deliveries, routes, and oneworld alliance membership.

“Transformation will be completed by the end of 2026, after which we can expect to return to profitability,” mentioned Con about WY’s ongoing restructuring. The airline is expected to receive the last of the Boeing 787-9s before the end of 2025, with six more units joining from late 2027 onwards. 

Four Boeing 737-800s will leave the fleet as their leasing periods come to an end. WY is given a chance in 2030 to rethink its fleet as leasing contracts will expire for both its widebodies and narrowbodies.

Future Boeing 787-9 deliveries are likely to feature a new Business Class cabin product, where WY has installed Apex Suites. These seats are some of the lowest-density and most spacious premium seats in the skies, with levels of comfort comparable to those in First Class. However, premium economy is not on the table yet, in line with the intended future, business, and leisure demand.

While tech gets cheaper, a new connectivity service will be needed on WY’s narrowbodies as well as widebodies. This may not involve the aircraft featuring the “Oman Air Connect” configuration, primarily dedicated to high-capacity routes.

In our past meetings, Con made no mistake that the airline is interested in a larger narrowbody to support capacity and range. The Airbus A321neo family would provide WY with a suitable platform to reach more of Europe and Asia, offering additional capacity over the Boeing 737-8. The aircraft found success at the Dubai Airshow, with flydubai (FZ) committing to up to 250 units and becoming Airbus’ latest customer.

Since the beginning of its transformation, WY increased its point-to-point traffic from 15% to 55%, bringing more people to visit Oman. The local authorities share the airline’s mission: to promote Oman as a destination.

WY’s transformation included layoffs, a substantial fleet and asset reshuffle, a network reassessment, and formalizing its oneworld membership. The alliance has allowed WY to extend its network well past Oman. To improve connectivity, the WY has launched its second daily flight to London Heathrow (LHR) using a previously leased slot from Qatar Airways (QR). Fueling cash flow, WY has also leased a Boeing 787-9 to Riyadh Air (RX). The aircraft, nicknamed “Jamila,” is currently flying to LHR from Riyadh (RUH), operating familiarization flights for RX’s staff and families.

WY also confirmed its summer operations to Zurich (ZRH) and winter operations to Amsterdam (AMS). Over the next few months, WY will finalize its fleet decision to secure slots and/or leasing contracts, future-proofing its operations beyond 2030, and is expected to announce new destinations in Asia.