The two largest airlines in the Sultanate of Oman are experiencing a leadership shakeup.
On August 20, 2026, Oman Air announced that, on September 1, 2026, its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Con Korfiatis, will step aside from the airline’s top role.
His post is going to be assumed by Nasser Al Sharji, who until now was acting head of Oman Airports Management, the government-owned company that manages the country’s civilian airports, as well as CEO of ground handler Transom Handling.
Korfiatis will remain linked to Oman Air and will facilitate the transition through a new role as advisor to the CEO
The departure of Korfiatis has come as somewhat of a surprise, since the Australian executive had assumed the top role at Oman Air in May 2024 with the main task of restructuring the airline and returning it to profitability.
Shortly after his appointment, Korfiatis launched a number of initiatives aiming at rationalizing Oman Air’s fleet and network and revamping its product offering.
Korfiatis had met some success in executing this plan. While Oman Air remains unprofitable, the airline has seen several key financial and operational indicators improve under his tenure.
Net losses have roughly halved between 2023 and 2025, from 103 million Rials (US$268 million) in 2023 to 52.2 million Rials (US$135.8 million) in 2025. The number of passengers carried also increased 8% in 2025 over the previous year, while cost per available seat kilometer (CASK) went down 6% over the same period. In 2025, Oman Air even posted the first positive EBITDA in the course of the last 15 years, of 3.2 million Rial (US$8.3 million).
In June 2025, Korfiatis also oversaw the accession of the Omani flag carrier to the oneworld alliance.
Interestingly, low-cost carrier SalamAir, the second largest airline in the Sultanate of Oman, has also announced a leadership change almost simultaneously.
Engineer Yaqoob bin Saif bin Hamoud Al Kiyumi will be replacing Adrian Hamilton-Manns as Chief Executive Officer, from 1 October 2026. In this case, however, the departure of the New Zealander executive had been announced several months beforehand.