Wings of Oman receives ‘Best In-flight Magazine’ award at World Marketing Congress

Wings of Oman magazine, the in-flight magazine of the Sultanate of Oman’s national carrier, Oman Air, was recently awarded the ‘Best In-House Magazine – In-Flight’ at the prestigious World Marketing Congress’s Global Marketing Excellence awards in Mumbai, India.

The event was held at the Taj Lands End Hotel, wherein the official awards presentation ceremony was followed by a lively gala dinner celebration. Throughout the evening, a selection of leading media, marketing and tech industry professionals were recognised and awarded for a wide range of achievements. 

Wings of Oman was presented with the ‘Best In-House Magazine – In-Flight’ award as a result of its editorial team recently going ahead with a complete re-design of the magazine’s layout structure, in late 2015. 

The award itself was presented to the Wings of Oman team by Mr. Nand Kishore Badami, the Cisco Systems Chief Marketing Officer for India and the SAARC regions, and Dr. Tarita Shankar, the Chairperson of the Indira Group of Institutes. 

Since its original conception as a straight-forward brochure-style magazine over ten years ago, Wings of Oman has gone through various design upgrades. However, the latest re-design, which was a result of a collaboration between the Wings of Oman editorial team, and the Corporate Communications and Media Department of Oman Air, has ensured that the publication is now a leader in its class. 

Oman Air’s Chief Executive Officer, Paul Gregorowitsch, said: ‘I am honoured and delighted to accept this award. Oman Air is continually striving to develop and maintain the highest standards in all of our on-board entertainment offerings, and Wings of Oman magazine is part of that.”

Some of the changes to the magazine include a re-designed cover page; re-designed inside pages; and an overall re-size of the magazine into more compact dimensions – making each copy more ‘user-friendly’ for passengers. 

The new Wings of Oman now also features silky smooth ‘matt finish’ paper. Very importantly, the paper used in Wings of Oman is now also environmentally friendly, and officially certified by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). 

Usama bin Karim Al Haremi, Senior Manager Corporate Communications and Media of Oman Air commented on this major win saying: “We are proud of this achievement, and it is a great honour for the team behind the publication, who has been striving month after month to present the readers with a superbly laid out magazine with a top quality content. “

On his part, Ashok Suvarna, Executive Director of NPA Oman expressed his happiness to receive the award saying: “We are privileged to share this momentous recognition with Oman Air. Wings of Oman, the in-flight publication of the Sultanate of Oman’s national carrier, Oman Air, is produced and presented every month in both Arabic and English in association with National Publishing and Advertising (NPA). We are proud that every month 22 000 copies of Wings of Oman are circulated around the world and is gaining readership by Oman Air’s passengers, businessmen and those interested in the travel and tourism sector.”

Members of the Jury for the award included Andrew Kelly, Chief Patron, CMO Asia; Raymond Rogers, Chairman, World Marketing Congress; Dr. R L Bhatia, Founder, World Sustainability & World CSR Day; Dr. Arun Arora, Chairman, eDvance Learning Pvt Ltd; and Dr. Prasad Medury, Partner, Amrop International.

Other magazines in the ‘Best In-House Magazine’ category included Promenade lifestyle magazine (DLF Utilities Ltd); the Spark Media Times magazine (Minda Management Services Ltd); and Bandhan lifestyle magazine (SBI Life Insurance Ltd).