Oman Air beat two other newcomer airlines to win the much coveted "Promising New Foreign Airline of the Year" award in the sixth edition of the KLIA Annual Award held recently. Malaysia Airports Berhad (MAB), honoured Oman Air with the "Promising New Foreign Airline Of The Year" award for exceptional performance for the year 2010. In 2010, MAB had laid the welcome mat for three new airlines – Oman Air, Royal Jordanian and Mahan Air - and all three were automatic contenders for the award.
Oman Air stood out from among the newcomers with its dynamic and strategic offerings, technologically innovative onboard performance and its smart alliances among other attributes. In the end, Oman Air successfully grabbed the pole position in this particular category because MAB recognized Oman Air's excellence in boosting passenger traffic despite being a newcomer. The win itself was primarily based on the comparison of the highest passenger volume by a new foreign carrier operating at KLIA.
This was achieved through Oman Air's year long positive involvement in relentlessly pushing the boundaries of distinction in within the field of aviation, thereby enabling KLIA to raise the profile of Malaysia as a desired aviation and tourist destination while at the same time further advancing KLIA's reputation in the area of service excellence.
Chief Office of Corporate Affairs, Philippe Georgiou commented, "Oman Air views this win as a deserving accolade for the inventiveness and people centric winnable attitude of the Oman Air team that has been determined from the beginning to take Oman from beyond the sandy shores of Oman to the greener grassy borders of the fast growing South East Asian region. "
He further added, "The KLIA Awards offer recognition to different categories of airlines and service providers in KLIA. The winners were chosen based on their 2010 feat in sectors such as passenger movement, growth factor, sales performance, international recognition as well as their service performance. Incidentally, the award ceremony itself was also a unique event since it coincided with Malaysia's 100 year celebration of its involvement in the aviation industry and Oman Air is proud to have been part of this."
"Malaysia's aviation industry is undergoing rapid growth and has become an important air transport hub for South East Asia and beyond. KLIA's passenger movements continue to indicate growth that outpaces its closest rival. As the momentum continues, Malaysia is on its way to be a prominent hub of the region and Oman Air too is poised to grow its share of the Malaysian and South East Asian aviation market. This latest award will help lift further Oman Air's progressive push for excellence in aviation services by several degrees for certain," he added.
The award was presented to Kathleen Leong, Oman Air District Sales Manager in Malaysia who has been instrumental in spearheading Oman Air's foray into Malaysia. On the winning of the award, she commented, "Together with the Oman Air team in Muscat have made a hugely positive impact on the Malaysian landscape about Oman Air's single-minded purpose of opening its borders to Malaysians and vice versa. This win will be the catalyst for greater forward moving momentum in the years ahead."
First introduced in 2006, the KLIA Awards is Malaysia's one and only aviation award in the country and it pays tribute to the best performers in aviation industry and in the process has gained a highly respected reputation as one of the most important events in the calendar of Malaysia's aviation sector.
