Business Insider places Oman Air in top 10 of World’s Best Airlines 2014

Wednesday, 2 July 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Business Insider, the US-based global business news website with 38.4 million monthly unique visitors, has placed Oman Air in the Top Ten of its just-published list of the world’s best airlines for flying Economy Class. Oman Air achieved ninth place in the list, beating many of the best-known giants of the aviation industry, in areas such as its passenger experience. Oman Air Acting Chief Executive Officer Salim Al Kindy welcomed the list’s publication, saying: “We are proud and delighted that Business Insider has recognised the outstanding quality offered by Oman Air and has listed us as one of the ten best airlines in the world. Oman Air’s long haul Economy Class experience offers extremely high levels of space and comfort, outstanding service and superb inflight technology, including mobile phone and wi-fi connectivity, large personal entertainment screens, live satellite TV and all the latest movies and music. When this is combined with the traditional Omani hospitality that is Oman Air’s trademark, we are confident that our passengers can enjoy the very best that 21st Century air travel has to offer.”

The Business Insider World’s Best Airlines list was compiled using the criteria of the quality of the passenger experience and the airline’s punctuality. The passenger experience was assessed using data supplied by Skytrax, the independent airline quality experts, and covering seat comfort, in-flight entertainment, cabin cleanliness and condition, quality of meals served, service efficiency, and cabin safety standards. Data on airline punctualitycovered the period from 1 April 2014 to 31 May 2014 and was supplied by Flightstats.com. The punctuality figures included the performance of codeshare partners and were given a weighting of 30% in the final results, whilst the passenger experience was given a 70% weighting to reflect customers’ priorities when choosing an airline. Oman Air’s Economy Class seats aboard its long haul Airbus A330 fleet offer a 34-inch pitch, adjustable head and leg rests and a 10.4-inch seatback inflight entertainment screen. In addition to the entertainment options offered by the onboard system, passengers are able personalise their experience by plugging in their own devices and watching their own movies, listening to their own music, or using the inflight connectivity service to update their social media, check emails or browse the web. Oman Air currently operates a fleet of 30 aircraft, comprising seven Airbus A330s, 17 Boeing B737s, four Embraer E175s and two ATR42s. In addition, the airline has a further three A330s, six Boeing B787 Dreamliners and 11 Boeing B737s on order, the first of which will be delivered later this year. The expanded fleet will enable Oman Air to increase the number of destinations it flies to, as well as offering greater frequencies on existing routes. The airline currently flies from its base in Muscat, Oman, to 43 destinations across the Middle East, Europe, Asia and East Africa and recorded on-time performance of almost 90% across its network in 2013. The Business Insider accolade comes just one month after Oman Air was named ‘Middle East’s Leading Airline Economy Class and ‘Middle East’s Leading Airline Best Business Class Airline’ at the World Travel Awards 2014.