Oman Air targets tourists on new Singapore route, eyes North Asia expansion

HONG KONG - Oman Air is looking to capitalise on the Gulf state’s appeal as a largely untapped tourism destination as it launches flights from Muscat to Singapore on July 2 and considers an expansion to North Asia over the next year, its chief executive said.

The new non-stop Singapore service is underpinned by a lower cost base and the airline’s year-old membership in the oneworld alliance to aid with connections, as serving the city-state with a stopover in Kuala Lumpur failed nine years ago, Oman Air CEO Con Korfiatis said in an interview.

“Singapore is one of the major global hubs... and Singaporeans are among the most avid travellers in the world,” he said. “Oman has moved from being a transit point... to now also being a tourist destination, and that has created a different market opportunity.”

Korfiatis said the airline was targeting load factors, or the percentage of seats filled, in the mid-to-high 70 per cent range in year one for the Singapore route, and first-month bookings were tracking above that level.

The eight-hour flight will be one of the world’s longest on a Boeing 737 MAX narrow-body and will run four days a week.

The launch comes as the government-owned airline has been executing a transformation plan since early 2024, cutting routes, renegotiating contracts, boosting fleet utilisation and reducing headcount.

The airline is also eyeing a return to North Asia for the first time in years, with Korfiatis expecting to announce at least one new nonstop destination in the region within 12 months.

He declined to name specific cities but described China, Japan and South Korea as markets of strong interest, citing their travellers’ appetite for nature-based and off-the-beaten-track destinations.

Oman’s airspace remained open throughout recent Middle East disruptions, giving the airline a brief advantage as passengers rerouted during the early weeks of the Iran war, Korfiatis said. Load factors had still dipped by around 8 to 10 percentage points at the height of the disruption but had since mostly recovered, he added. REUTERS