MCrAlYHf bond coats are employed in jet and aircraft engines, stationary gas turbines, and power plants, which require strong resistance to oxidation at high temperatures. The oxidation behavior of a free-standing CoNiCrAlYHf coating was investigated in this study. Isothermal oxidation tests were performed in air at 1050 °C on the specimens with various levels of surface roughness to investigate the oxidation kinetics. X-ray diffraction, focused ion beam, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and scanning transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the surface oxides. The surface roughness was examined using a contact profilometer and SEM. An empirical model was proposed to elucidate the impact of surface roughness on the oxidation behavior based on the correlation between the surface roughness level and oxidation rates.