UPDATE: Oman Air No Longer Operates to Singapore. (2019)
Overview:
Well, here is APP's first official Airline / Flight Review, featuring a short but in detail look into a relatively new and underated airline based out of Muscat; Oman Air. Oman Air was founded in 1993, based out its hub in Muscat, and flying to over 46 destinations in 27 countrys around the world. Its fleet consists of mostly Boeing 737s & A330s, with receiving their very first B787-8 recently. For most Singaporens whom travel to Kuala Lumpur, there are plenty of ways one could accomplish that, either by driving, taking a bus or flying. the SG - KL route is populated with many options of air travel. Oman Air is one option most Singaporens and Malaysians would overlook as a possible choice of air travel. Oman Air operates a flight from Muscat to Singapore via Kuala Lumpur daily giving rise to an opportunity for travellers here. Well I'm here to give my 2 cents about this possible route to take for most SG-KL travellers.
First off, the pricing to fly between SG-KL on Oman Air is not expensive. Its really affordable for a full fledge airline, specially on such a short route. Our journey to KL on Saturday only cost us 107SGD per pax for a return ticket on Economy Class. Now this price is bound to change mind you, but for a weekend flight out of Singapore, that is really not expensive seeing how her budget airline competitors could charge you almost 75SGD for a return ticket on some god forsaken hour and on such a tiny cramped up plane with no service and no baggage allowance at all. Did I mention Oman Air is NOT a budget airline?
Being a non budget airline comes with benefits such as 30kgs of baggage allowance on Economy class, and of course service of snacks and drinks for the short 45min flight. I feel the main selling point of travelling on Oman from SG to KL to SG is the timing of the flights. The flight WY0824 departs Singapore at 0730hrs, arrives in KLIA at around 0845hrs. Return flight on WY0823 departs KLIA at 2125hrs and reaches SG at around 2230hrs. Its perfect timing for business travellers or those looking for a day trip out of SIngapore. The baggage allowance allows one to shop and purchase items with no worries of baggage constraints on a smaller no frills airline. The larger A330 means more comfortable non cramped cabins, allowing more comfort for travellers, even though it is indeed a short flight.
A Look at the Cabin:
What can I say? The cabin Interior for our flight on Oman Air's Airbus A330-200/300 (we had one 200 for the outbound and 300 for the inbound flight) was better than what I had imagined. After recently flying on other big full fledge airlines (shall not name any here), I must say, I was impressed by the finishings, seat comfort, IFE and overall cleaniness of the plane. Seats on Economy class were arranged in a standard 2-4-2 configuration, with a width of 18inches and a pitch angle of 34 degrees, not too shabby for an economy class seat on a A330.
Unlike other airlines in the region, the lighting system on Oman Air's flight features a mixture of LEDs and flourescent lights, a nice touch in my opinion. Seats are coloured in a mixture of cyan, green and burnt orange, representing the corporate brand colour of the airline. IFE system features a 10.6 inch touch screen and remote in economy class, with a wide selections of movies and tv programs. Now the cool part, the airline offers onboard wifi and ethernet plugs in all classes, and there are 3 pin power sockets under passenger seats (shared between 2 seats) as well as USB ports and a small coat hanger built into the seats.
Even though we booked economy class seats, the flight crew were kind enough to let me take some pics in the Business class section before passengers came onboard. In Business Class, Seats are capable of fully reclining into a flat bed, with a width of 22inches and a length of 77.5inches. A nice touch to the business class seats are a small blue led light above the head board, giving off a nice low blue glow in the seat acting as a night light. Business Class seats feature a 17.5 inch touch screen personal IFE system, as well as 2 USB ports, an ethernet socket, an audio video assumption socket and power ports. Oman Air's A330 fleet is equipped with 20 Business Class seats, though in the 300 model they also carry an additional 6 first class Open Suites not featured in this review.
Service:
It is hard to gauge service for an Airline for a short haul flight, but from what I have seen, the crew on Oman Air are well trained, and well mannered. The flight time between SG-KL is short, hence its understandable that there is a sense of rush when serving passengers on such a short flight. The crew are well spoken as well, with no issues of miscommunications or misunderstandings between passengers and crew.
To Sum it all Up:
Good Flight Ambience
Good Flight Experience
Affordable Price
30KGs baggage allowance
Convenient Timing
Friendly Crew
Personally, I would fly Oman to KL again, after looking over all the other options available, they seem most valuable for the affordable price you pay, or if I ever visit Muscat, they are my top choice for Airlines. Hope this short review has been helpful. Do check out Oman Air's Website for more details and flight information as well as A Plane's Portrait full gallery for more inflight photos.
Cheers & Happy Flying !