Transforming an Airline: Oman Air CEO Interview

MUSCAT — Before heading to Bahrain to attend Routes World 2024, I quickly stopped in Muscat, Oman, to discuss Oman Air’s (WY) transformation and plans with its executives.

First, I visited the airline’s training center, where Captain Nasser Al Salmi, COO, guided me through the cabin crew training facilities and full-motion flight simulators. After a flight from/to Muscat International Airport on board the A330 simulator, it was time to head to the executive offices to learn more about WY’s ongoing work.

I first discussed the state of the ongoing transformation with Con Korfiatis. Con was appointed CEO in May 2024 following 30 years of experience worldwide, including flyadeal (F3), Citiylink (QG), Singapore Airlines (SQ), Qantas (QF), and more. Con’s task is one of the most challenging in the airline industry, transforming a world-class airline with some of the most troubled finances.

Aviation is often considered a low-margin, low-profit, high-passion industry. What motivated you to pursue a career in this world?

My very first airline job was nearly 30 years ago. I remember sitting down with a COO to discuss the business side of aviation, thinking to myself, “This industry wasn’t created to make money.” I asked him, “How does that work? What’s it for, then?” And he replied, “It’s for people like you who have a lot of fun”. It’s a funny mystery. That response really resonated with me.

What attracted me to aviation was its complexity. I began my career as a chartered accountant and later moved into consulting, working across multiple industries. One of our major clients in Australia was in aviation, and I fell in love with the industry’s complexity. As a consultant, you get to see so much, but you don’t take much ownership of execution and delivery. It was intriguing to be on the other side of the desk.

After consulting for many years, I decided aviation was the industry I wanted to dive into full-time. I found an opportunity that allowed me to apply my finance background and jumped in. It hasn’t disappointed me. I’ve been in it for 30 years now, and it keeps pulling me back in. Every six months, things change, and even after all this time, it still feels fresh.

How does your experience play a role in Oman Air’s transformation, and why is a transformation needed?

Throughout my career, I've had opportunities to work for many airlines, even being tasked at one point to design a new airline. The latter part of my career has focused on transformations and startups, and I love that aspect of the work. Each experience is unique and challenging in its own way.

I first came to Saudi Arabia in 2006, marking my initial exposure to this region. At the time, I felt that the Far East was the center of aviation growth. Over the years, I noticed the center of gravity shifting to the Middle East, which is what brought me back in 2016, especially to a place like Saudi Arabia—a very different place from what it is today.

Coming to Oman is an excellent opportunity. The country has a good airline—in fact, it’s a great airline—but it faces significant business challenges that need addressing. That’s really the task ahead of us, and it’s what we’re here to accomplish. We’re fortunate to be in a beautiful country with a strong asset to promote globally. However, we suffer from a lack of awareness about Oman as a destination, and the airline itself lacks brand recognition.

Addressing this is certainly part of our challenge. We’re working to improve a legacy airline with over 30 years of history, both commercially and in terms of operational efficiency and costs.

This is the journey we’re on, and it’s a multi-year effort. We’re in the early stages with some very ambitious goals and KPIs, but I believe it’s achievable. It will likely take two to three years, and we are currently in the first year of the transformation, with a target to achieve substantial results by the end of 2026.

One of the aspects is competition in the region, so you have some of the biggest airlines in the world just a few hundred kilometers away. What sets and will set even more Oman Air apart from all the rest of the pack? 

In some ways, being in a center of growth is fantastic. On the other hand, we're in one of the most fiercely competitive markets in the world. The other airlines here are much, much bigger than us, and we won’t reach the size of Emirates anytime soon—nor do we aspire to. But we do have some unique assets to leverage. One of these assets is Oman itself. I was next door for seven years and hadn’t fully realized what existed here.

I’d never been to Oman before nor flown with its airline. It was a fantastic discovery for me to see what this country and airline have to offer. Oman has a unique charm, character, energy, and geographic advantages. We can position ourselves as a point-to-point airline, allowing passengers to avoid transiting through extremely busy hubs and crowded airports where it’s hard to maintain on-time performance given their rapid growth. We have a real opportunity to get people here efficiently and keep them connected with a world-class product.

Being a mid-sized airline means we’re far more agile and adaptable to change. Oman’s distinctive features, along with the airline’s characteristics, give us a solid foundation to stand out. While transit traffic remains a significant part of our business, we also focus on point-to-point traffic. The key is to target the connectivity and pairings where we can truly compete, rather than trying to replicate what everyone else is doing.

The Business Studio was unveiled a few months ago, rebranding your First Class product into a Business+. Do you expect more airlines to join this trend? 

There are fewer and fewer airlines in the world that still offer First Class cabins. Overall, there’s no decline in the premium market as demand for premium cabins continues to grow. However, business class has improved so much over the past few years that it has almost made First Class redundant. That’s exactly what we found with our First Class and Business Class products.

We didn’t see much demand for First Class, so converting the existing cabin was a simple and straightforward decision. By doing so, we’ve shifted our focus away from that segment of the market and are now able to sell the cabin as an enhanced business-class experience.