Aeroplan Adds Partnership with Oman Air (Now Live)

Aeroplan will continue its quest to build partnerships with all the boutique airlines in the world: their next airline partner will be Oman Air. 

Oman Air has now officially joined Aeroplan as one of its latest partner airlines, allowing members to earn and redeem points on the Muscat-based airline – including an all-new First Class aspirational flight possibility!

Redeem Aeroplan Points on Oman Air

In line with all other partner redemptions, Aeroplan redemptions on Oman Air follows the following set of principles:

• Oman Air flights will be priced based on Aeroplan’s Flight Reward Chart.
• Members will be able to book Oman Air flights online and over the phone.
• Oman Air flights can be combined with flights operated by Air Canada and other international airline partners.
• A $39 partner booking fee will apply.

The partnership was first announced in early December 2021, and has now gone live as of December 14, 2021. Oman Air flights are now searchable and bookable on the Aeroplan search engine, with plenty of availability across the board!

Oman Air Destinations

Let’s take a glance through Oman Air’s route map.

Oman Air’s long-haul routes stretch far into Europe, South East Asia, East Asia, and Africa, including London, Paris, Frankfurt, Zurich, Milan, and Munich in the west, to Bangkok, Guangzhou, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and Manila in the east.

With recent new partnerships with Etihad Airways, Gulf Air, and now Oman Air, Aeroplan has greatly expanded its presence in Middle East, a region where Star Alliance’s native connectivity is relatively weak.

Through the Oman Air partnership, Aeroplan also adds more options for members to connect to its three African destinations of Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, and Zanzibar as a connecting flight onwards from Muscat.

Finally, Oman Air had previously flown to the Maldives, although this route has since been put on hold. We certainly hope it returns in the future, offering us another routing option en route to the overwater villas!

Oman Air Award Pricing

The vast majority of Oman Air’s routes, including all flights within the Gulf as well as its European destinations, fall into Aeroplan’s “Within Atlantic zone” chart:

Flights within the Gulf region will fall into the first range of 0–1,000 miles in distance flown, costing 7,500 or 15,000 points one-way in economy class or business class, respectively.

A tad further out into Pakistan and India will fall into the second range of 1,001–2,000 miles in distance flown, pricing out at 12,500 or 25,000 points one-way in economy class or business class, respectively.

Meanwhile, a single flight from any African or European destination to Muscat will fall into the range of 2,001–4,000 miles in distance flown, and will cost 25,000 or 45,000 points one-way in economy class or business class, respectively.

That even includes their furthest flagship destinations of London and Paris. Flying up to 4,000 miles (on a flight of about seven hours in duration) for 45,000 Aeroplan points is definitely an attractive sweet spot.

That being said, paying the same amount for a much shorter flight to Oman Air’s African destinations is much less of a good deal, and I wouldn’t recommend this booking individually – rather, add it on to a longer itinerary originating in North America (as we’ll discuss below). 

Lastly, flights between Muscat and any of its East Asian or South East Asian destinations fall into Aeroplan’s “Between Atlantic and Pacific zones” chart:

Every single destination falls within 5,000 miles of Muscat, so a one-way flight would cost 40,000 or 60,000 points in economy class or business class, respectively.

Combining Oman Air with Other Airlines

If you were to combine a Oman Air flight with another flight departing from North America, your trip would be governed by either the North America–Atlantic or North America–Pacific charts:

For example, flying from North America via London to Muscat, and then onwards to Manila in Oman Air business class, would cost 85,000 Aeroplan points one-way from the East Coast and 105,000 Aeroplan points from the West Coast.

We do know that Aeroplan’s new “100% rule of thumb” is exceedingly flexible, so more convoluted routings are very much on the table – although pricing will still be in accordance to the total distance flown.

For example, flying Oman Air en route to Africa (particularly underserved destinations like Zanzibar) will certainly be a popular redemption, and this will cost 100,000 points in business class when departing from anywhere in North America.

Oman Air First Class

To highlight something very exciting about this new partnership, Oman Air offers a fabulous First Class cabin on select Boeing 787 Dreamliners, as well as an older First Class product on their Airbus A330s.

That’s something of a rarity these days – it’s not every day that we get a brand-new First Class aspirational flight redemption to dream about!

Currently, the only destinations with First Class are London and Kuala Lumpur (on the Boeing 787) and Frankfurt (on the Airbus A330). First Class from Europe to Muscat will cost 65,000 points, whereas the flight to Kuala Lumpur would cost 80,000 points. 

What’s Oman Air’s Onboard Product Like?

Oman Air business class on their Boeing 787 Dreamliner is very similar to its fellow Middle Eastern carrier, Gulf Air, as well as Japan Airlines’s flagship product. The airline offers an industry-leading 2-2-2 seating configuration known as the Apex Suite.

Apex Suites are known for providing direct aisle access at every seat, and the window seats have an extraordinary amount of privacy and a dedicated walkway to the aisle.

As mentioned above, Oman Air’s three-cabin Dreamliners offer their new and luxurious First Class suites, complete with a sliding door.

Oman Air also has two configurations of the Airbus A330. The first offers a less attractive, but still comfortable, business class product in a 1-2-1 configuration with older seats. The planes with this business class configuration also offer an older First Class cabin.

In the long term, Oman Air is planning on refurbishing these planes, removing First Class, and installing Apex Suites; however, the timing of it has not been confirmed.

The other version of the Airbus A330 already has the new Apex Suites in business class.

Oman Air currently flies their Boeing 787s to most European and Asian destinations, with a handful of exceptions like Manila, Frankfurt, and Zurich that are served by a mix of the old and refurbished A330s.

Given that Oman Air is a premium boutique airline with a First Class offering, let’s briefly discuss the lounge situation too.

First, it’s worth noting that the new airport terminal in Muscat, where Oman Air operates, is absolutely gorgeous.

The lounge entrance is shared between First Class and business class; however, First Class guests will have access to a private section of the lounge with à la carte dining.

Earn Aeroplan Points on Oman Air

Along with redeeming points on Oman Air, Aeroplan members will also be able to earn points when flying on paid fares with Oman Air.

The earning chart will be as follows:

Note that Oman Air flights will earn Aeroplan points only, and won’t count towards Status Qualifying Miles, Segments, or Dollars with Aeroplan Elite Status. 

Conclusion

Aeroplan has not slowed down in their road to becoming the world’s most well-diversified airline loyalty program.

The upcoming new partnership with Oman’s flag carrier brings Aeroplan’s total number of partner airlines to 44, a number unrivalled by any other global loyalty program. 

Indeed, Aeroplan has doubled down on their recent growth in Middle East and Africa, adding Oman Air to the vast number of airlines and routings to choose from when flying through these parts of the world – and I get the feeling there’s even more to come!

Oman Air’s 787 First Class and business class products look drop-dead gorgeous; they’ve always been on my bucket list, but there hasn’t been a great option to book with miles until now. 

Because of the possibility of flying in a new First Class cabin, Oman Air is one of my favourite new Aeroplan airline partnerships to date. I’m also looking forward to checking out their business class and seeing how it compares to fellow new partner Gulf Air sometime in 2022.