As Eid holidays beckon, you can fly for as low as OMR33

Muscat: With the suspense on when the Eid holidays are expected to be over soon, a flurry of activities was expected at the offices of travel agents in the Sultanate of Oman.

Over the years, Eid holidays meant an escape for a brief holiday to attractive tourist destinations or travel home for citizens and expatriates. However, travel agents aren’t upbeat this time about people travelling during the forthcoming holidays, likely to begin on April 21 or April 22.

Some of the travel agents told Times of Oman that “surprisingly the airfares at the end of the holy month of Ramadan are low this year to most of the regular Asian destinations.”

“We expected a good demand for flight tickets to most of the Asian destinations. It is not the case this year during Eid holidays as the demand is low,” said a leading travel agent based in Muscat.

He said: “One-way tickets to Mumbai via Sharjah (UAE) are available at OMR35 in Air Arabia on April 20 (Thursday) and April 21 (Friday). One-way tickets to India’s capital, New Delhi, are available for OMR35 on Thursday (April 20) via Sharjah in Air Arabia and OMR48 in Etihad via Abu Dhabi.”

However, the travel agent confirmed the prices of direct flights are high with most of the airlines selling around OMR 100 for a one-way Muscat to Delhi ticket.

And the airfares are low, not just to India.

A ticket to Lahore from Muscat will cost you OMR47 if you travel on April 21 and OMR38 if you take a flight on April 22, with both not being direct options. A ticket to Karachi via Abu Dhabi will cost OMR33 on April 21 (Friday) and OMR32 on Saturday on Etihad Airways.

The demand is, however, high in the European sector where a one-way London ticket would cost around OMR200, a one-way Munich fare around OMR176, and for Paris from OMR205 on April 21.

The flights to some of the tourist destinations have also gone up during the upcoming holidays.

 “A return ticket to Istanbul will cost you a little more than OMR 200 – if you are not willing to compromise on your dates,” travel agents said.

During the off-peak season, the price of Istanbul is around OMR 140 (one-way) and on low cost airlines is around OMR 50 (one-way).

“This is simply because everybody wants to travel on Thursday (April 20) for a four to five-day break,” a travel agent said. He added: “But you can get a deal, if you are willing to travel during Ramadan or after Eid holidays.”