Muscat International Airport Handles 7.5m Passengers in 2012

21-Jan-2013

Passenger traffic has reached record numbers at Muscat International Airport, for the first time in history passenger numbers exceeded 7 million, in actual 7,546,715 passengers travelled through the airport in 2012 compared to 6,479,860 passengers in 2011 an increase of 16%, the highest month of the year was in July 2012 with 648,555 passengers travelling, as the holy month of Ramadhan started at the end of July and most holiday travellers preferred to travel and return during the month of July, this month also coincides with school holidays in Oman where majority of Omani and expatriate families tend to travel abroad, the highest day of the year was on Wednesday 19 December 2012 with 24,800 passengers travelling, this being the weekend before the Christmas holidays, it also coincides with the school mid-term holidays where majority of expatriate families tend to travel abroad.

According to Oman Airports Management Company, the passenger numbers reached 7.5 m passengers for the first time in history at Muscat International Airport, this number reflects the positive trends that the aviation industry is witnessing in Oman, the record passenger numbers is being driven by a number of factors including fleet and route expansion by the existing airlines serving Muscat, this in turn is being fuelled by the growth and development of the tourism industry within the country as well as strong commercial, industry and economic activity.

Passenger traffic have also reached record numbers at Salalah Airport as for the first time in history passenger numbers exceeded 0.6 million passengers, in actual 629,305 passengers travelled through the airport in 2012 compared to 513,278 passengers in 2011 an increase of 23%, the highest month of the year was during the Khareef season of Aug 2012 with 63,944 passengers travelled, as during the Khareef season and Eid holiday travelers preferred to travel to/from Salalah. Air Arabia started its first direct flights to Salalah Airport on the 28th June 2012, this is the third airline which operates all year round flights to Salalah Airport after Oman Air and Air India Express.