Two years ago Oman Air announced that it planned to join the oneworld alliance which is headed by American Airlines and based in Dallas, and includes members like British Airways, Japan Airlines, and Qantas.

Now it seems that the oneworld launch is on the cusp of reality. oneworld member Alaska Airlines now has a partner page for Oman Air.

Oman Air is joining oneworld®. Coming soon, Mileage Plan members can earn and redeem on Oman Air.

I haven’t yet found this availability on Alaska’s website (I haven’t spoken to Alaska reservations, however). Soon appears to be soon, and not today.

Oman Air is currently an Air Canada Aeroplan partner and an Air France KLM Flying Blue partner though there are often issues with partner programs seeing and ticketing Oman Air award space. It’s unclear whether their partnerships outside of oneworld will last beyond alliance integration and any current contract expiration.

The carrier was founded in 1993 using a Boeing 737-300 and crew from Ansett Australiato fly from its hub in Muscat. The airline was unsuccessful as a regional carrier and in 2007 the government injected cash and increased its ownership stake fro one-third to 80%. Like the Abu Dhabi government, Oman split from Gulf Air and launched its own services to Europe (London) and Southeast Asia (Bangkok). The government grew its stake in the airline over the next three years to 99.8%.

They fly to destinations beyond the Mideast such as Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur; several destinations in Europe and a broad network into India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh as well as flights to Northern Africa, within the Gulf region and four destinations inside Oman.

Despite following Islamic dietary laws with its meals, the carrier does serve alcohol on flights beyond the Mideast (although not on routes to countries where alcohol is prohibited, nor during Ramadan). They offer flat beds in long haul business class and sadly their first class cabin is being rebranded this month as ‘business studio’.

Credit: Oman Air

Oman Air’s frequent flyer program is the Sindbad Club and they’ve occasionally been known to status match although most recent requests have reportedly been denied.