Routes World 2024 Day 2: Oman Air CEO Interview

BAHRAIN — The second CEO keynote interview at Routes World 2024 saw Con Korfiatis, Oman Air (WY) CEO, take the stage in the keynote theatre.

Con Korfiatis took office in May 2024, joining the airline as CEO and leading its restructuring. The theme is transformation, and the next years will be crucial for the airline’s future. Recently, the airline phased out its A330s, favoring the Boeing 787 as its only widebody family.

“Since its creation, Oman Air has played an important role as Oman’s ambassador. While doing so, Oman Air has built an outstanding product, which received awards all over the world” Regarding the airline’s transformation, the CEO commented:

“The business side is not as bright; we have not transformed in thirty years, supporting tourism and business in the country. There’s value in bringing people to and via Oman, and ultimately, it is a matter of how much you lose. We got to the point where it was hard to justify some of our operations, and there is a clear mandate to be economically sustainable. We aim to break even by 2027.”

In 2024, Oman Air had to rethink its network strategy, reducing capacity and ultimately closing down economically unsustainable routes. “The losses have grown to a level where we needed to do some immeidate surgery. At the core of any transformation there is network and there is fleet, and we reduced our capacity by 30%. The amount of money we were losing on certain routes was unsustainable. We aim to shrink, fix the foundations and grow further.”

“We have a desire to go back into the routes we recently cut in the future... We have incredible transit, arrival, and on-time performance at an airport that is designed to welcome significantly more passengers than its current loads.”

The CEO officially announced the airline’s latest connection to Rome Fiumicino during the press conference. The rumored destination will begin in December 2024 with four weekly frequencies operated by the airline’s Boeing 737-8 MAX.

The CEO also commented on Oman Air’s stopover program. 

“There was a special focus to build Iceland as a destination, and Icelandair successfully succeeded. We suffer from a lack of awareness for Oman, we have recently introduced a stopover program for which passengers can bundle up while visiting Muscat. From a tourism point of view, we are investing in our relations with airports as well. We are a small country with a small team, so it is easier for us to coordinate with civil aviation authorities, hotels, etc.” 

In August, Oman Air announced the conversion of its First Class cabin to a Business+ product. While keeping the old First Class seat, the cabin will be sold as Business, coming with similar onboard service. “We have converted our first-class product to a new business studio, which is honestly the best business class in the world. We have taken out the caviar and expensive champagne and leveled out the offer, aligning it more with the market’s demand”

Oman Air has alredy found an undisclosed buyer for its A330 fleet, and is expecting to receive more deliveries from Boeing. Con commented:

“We had 42 aircraft at the beginning of the year, including two different widebodies. We have taken the A330s out of the fleet, and our widebody fleet now revolves around the Boeing 787. We plan to retire the Boeing 787-8 by next year.”