Airport passenger numbers approach pre-COVID levels in Oman

Airport passenger numbers approach pre-COVID levels in Oman

Muscat: Passenger numbers at airports in Oman are steadily approaching the levels recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic began, reveal statistics published by the government. By the end of February 2022, about 1. 1 million passengers had arrived at and departed from four airports in Oman: Muscat, Salalah, Sohar, and Duqm, compared to the nearly 1. 6 million passengers using Oman's airports at the end of January 2020, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Oman. While passenger numbers in Muscat are still down – 1. 43 million passengers travelled through Muscat International Airport in the first month of 2020, and nearly a million used the airport in January and February 2022 – figures published by the National Centre for Statistics and Information show that there has actually been a passenger increase at both Duqm and Salalah airports. 9, 747 passengers arrived at and departed from Duqm airport in the first two months of 2022, compared to 4, 985 in January 2020. While 52 flights landed in the first month of 2020, that number more than doubled to 122 by the end of February 2022. At Sohar, however, numbers are still lower than they were pre-pandemic: 23, 475 passengers arrived and