Oman Air has appointed Nasser Al Sharji as its Chief Executive Officer, installing a veteran of the sultanate's logistics and energy sectors at the head of the national carrier as it enters a new phase of restructuring and growth. The airline announced the appointment on 21 August 2026, with Al Sharji taking up the role from the start of September.
Al Sharji brings more than 25 years of leadership, operational and business-transformation experience. He has held senior positions at ASYAD Group, the state logistics champion, at the energy group OQ and at Nama Water Services, and most recently served as Chief Executive of Transom Handling and Acting Chief Executive of Oman Airports Management Company. That aviation and infrastructure background places him close to the operational realities of running a national airline, from ground handling to airport coordination.
He succeeds Con Korfiatis, who led the carrier for just over two years and will remain involved with the airline as Advisor to the Chief Executive, providing continuity through the handover. Oman Air Chairman Saeed Al Mawali praised Al Sharji's understanding of the aviation sector and his record of steering organisations through transformation and change, framing the appointment as a deliberate step in the airline's turnaround.
The change lands at a pivotal moment for Oman Air. The carrier has been the subject of a sustained restructuring effort aimed at narrowing losses, rationalising its network and route portfolio, and aligning the airline with the sultanate's broader economic diversification agenda under Oman Vision 2040. It recently joined the oneworld alliance, a move designed to widen its commercial reach, and it operates in a Gulf aviation market dominated by far larger and better-capitalised rivals in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Against that backdrop, the choice of an executive drawn from Oman's logistics and energy establishment, rather than a career airline chief from abroad, signals an intent to tie the carrier more tightly to national economic priorities and to prioritise financial discipline over expansion for its own sake. Al Sharji's early agenda is likely to centre on controlling costs, sharpening the network, and demonstrating a credible path toward sustainability for an airline that remains strategically important to the sultanate even as it absorbs continued state support.
The leadership change is also part of a wider reshaping of Oman's aviation landscape, announced alongside a new chief executive for the low-cost carrier SalamAir, as the sultanate seeks to coordinate its aviation assets around tourism growth and connectivity targets. For Oman Air specifically, the appointment of a leader with deep roots in the country's state enterprise ecosystem suggests closer alignment between the airline, the airports operator and the logistics sector, an integration that could help control costs and improve the passenger experience if executed well. The market will watch whether the new leadership can convert restructuring into durable financial improvement.
