50% of Oman Air volumes come through NDC

This has been a good year for Oman Air as it added two new routes, apart from strengthening the existing routes. In an exclusive with TRAVTALK, Sunil VA, Regional Vice President – ISC & FE, Oman Air, shares ‘oneworld’ alliance benefits for the trade.

Hazel Jain

Despite geopolitical challenges earlier in the year, Oman Air has demonstrated remarkable results, bolstered by an uptick in both leisure and business travel. Sunil VA, Regional Vice President – ISC & FE, Oman Air, highlights the airline’s successful expansion, including its recent induction into the oneworld alliance, which unlocks seamless global connectivity for passengers across 900+ destinations. “This year looks promising despite the challenges we have had. January to March was revolutionary and we did extremely well. But then we had geopolitical issues that pulled us back a little, but we see India has bounced back. Of course, when the season starts for Oman this October, we expect a lot of arrivals.”

Oman Air recently also celebrated 30 years of operations between Mumbai and Muscat. Sunil says, “Mumbai is the second route for us in India and one of our flagship routes in India. Having operations to the commercial capital has helped us change the traffic mix we carry; it has changed the image of the airline. It has helped us get into all verticals of business and, most importantly, it’s been helpful in promoting Oman as a destination, especially after COVID when we saw people looking at Oman for weekend getaways.” The airline has seen a steady load factor of 80s, proving that Oman is now a year-round destination. “We are operating to all the 10 points where we have traffic rights. We are looking at new destinations,” he says.

Joining ‘oneworld’ alliance

A huge achievement for Oman Air, joining the ‘oneworld’ alliance will allow the airline to offer over 900 destinations across the world with partners.

“We are in the process of aligning connectivity and getting products in place. We have seen good traction for people travelling beyond, especially on British Airways and American Airlines. These are the two products that have really started doing well. We are looking at doing a lot more with the other partner airlines,” Sunil adds.

The airline currently has a few aircraft in order — a mix of wide and narrow body aircrafts — to be delivered in 2025 and 2026.

For the trade, the alliance will offer better fares and more products for their clients. Most of their customers are already frequent flyers of ‘oneworld’ — they will enjoy the facilities and benefits of the ‘oneworld’ loyalty programme. Oman Air recently launched a promotional programme for the trade on its 30^th anniversary that allows travellers to move around the world on Oman Air network on special fares. This was launched on 24 July and will help the trade get attractive fares for travel till the end of the year.

NDC teething problems

Commenting on certain challenges faced by agents adopting New Destination Capability (NDC), Sunil says, “Oman Air has been one of the pioneer airlines to launch NDC in India. We launched it pre-COVID and since then have progressed well. I can proudly say that we are one of the leading airlines in terms of NDC penetration. We are close to above 50 per cent of our volumes coming through NDC, which is a great achievement. We have certain teething issues at times, but I think we have come out with solutions for most of it.”