Record Passenger Numbers for Muscat International and Salalah Airports During 2011
Passenger traffic has reached record numbers at Muscat International Airport, for the first time in history passenger numbers exceeded 6 million, in actual 6.4m passengers travelled through the airport in 2011 compared to 5.7 passengers in 2010 an increase of 12%, the highest month of the year was in July 2011 with 623,119 passengers travelling, as the holy month of Ramadhan started in August 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 Thursday 22 December 2011 with 23,613 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 Wihaad Soud Al-Harthy, Marketing Manager Aeronautical at Oman Airports Management Company, the passenger numbers reached 6.4m 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 national carrier Oman Air, increase in capacity and frequency by the existing airlines, 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. Two new airlines started flights to Oman in 2011 IndiGo and Ethiopian Airlines this will contribute to the positive and considerable growth for passenger traffic at Muscat International Airport during 2012. Muscat International Airport is currently served by 29 scheduled airlines and is directly connected with 57 destinations in 28 countries. This is the highest number of airlines and destinations connecting the airport to the world during the history of Muscat International Airport.
The highest region for passenger numbers is the Indian Sub-continent which represented 2.5m passengers, followed by the (GCC) Gulf Cooperation Council Countries which represented 2.2m passengers, other regions such as Domestic, Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Far East also witnessed an increase in passenger numbers.
Passenger traffic have also reached record numbers at Salalah Airport as for the first time in history passenger numbers exceeded half a million passengers, in actual 513,278 passengers travelled through the airport in 2011 compared to 455,297 passengers in 2010 an increase of 12%, the highest month of the year was during the Khareef season of July 2011 with 64,338 passengers travelled, as the holy month of Ramadhan started in August most holiday travellers preferred to travel to/from Salalah for the Khareef season during the month of July, this month also coincides with school holidays in Oman where majority of Omani and expatriate families tend to travel.