Rio De Janeiro, Brazil – Oman Air is looking to order aircraft to replace aging planes and serve more routes for the national carrier, CEO Con Korfiatis told Reuters on Sunday.

Korfiatis did not disclose any deal timeline or number of planes, but said he was looking at narrowbody jets with lay-flat beds that appeal to premium passengers and can profitably carry fewer travellers than a widebody jet on long-haul routes, such as Kuala Lumpur and Istanbul.

“Something ⁠we’ve done in the last couple of years that we weren’t doing in the past is long-haul flights with narrowbody aircraft,” the CEO told Reuters on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Annual General Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“We see an opportunity to serve the market with this product.”

The carrier was thrust into the limelight in March when Oman and Saudi Arabia offered alternative travel routes to tens of thousands of people in the Gulf trying to escape Iranian airstrikes following the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Oman Air needed ⁠to accommodate about four to five times the normal number of passengers during the crisis. “To have that many people come across the border for flights, it certainly ⁠operationally challenged us in ways we haven’t seen,” Korfiatis said. “We’ve never seen our airport so full.”

He said that, in some cases, customers needed to purchase their tickets before crossing the ⁠border. “At the border, some people didn’t have transport, so we actually put some bussing services,” he said.

Passengers who stayed in Oman while waiting to depart the ⁠Gulf may return, benefiting the carrier’s transformation plan. “Generally, when people come to Oman, they do come back,” he said.

In April this year, Oman Air announced that it has turned profitable for the first time in 15 years posting an operating profit of RO3.2mn in 2025, marking a key milestone in the recovery of Oman’s aviation sector.

Speaking at a media briefing, Korfiatis said, “Oman Air’s turnaround marks a defining moment for the airline.”

He added that the positive EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization)reflected disciplined cost management and a focus on sustainable growth. “The airline reduced its bank debt by RO27mn, the first such decline since 2009, while lowering cost per seat by 6%.”

Passenger demand strengthened during the year, with the airline flying 5.8mn travellers – up 8% year-on-year – and achieving a load factor of 82%. “Our network strategy is delivering results, particularly in point-to-point traffic, which grew 34%,” Korfiatis said.