Oman transport: International flights on the rise

Muscat: There has been a 10.6 per cent year-on-year rise in the number of international flights at Muscat International Airport during the first two months of the year, according to latest National Centre for Statistics & Information (NCSI) data.
There were 8,141 landings and an equal number of take-offs until the end of February this year, as against 7,361 landings and 7,358 take-offs until February 2016.
Further, there has been a 15.5 per cent increase in the number of passengers on international flights to and from Muscat International Airport, with their numbers rising to 2.04 million this year, compared with 1.77 million recorded last year.
Domestic flights, on the other hand, went up 4.5 per cent to 1,571, from 1,503 flights last year. Passengers on domestic flights too logged a rise of 15.9 per cent to reach 173,177, as against 149,444 domestic passengers by the end of February last year.
The total number of flights at the Muscat International Airport (including international and domestic) increased by 10.1 per cent to 17,853, while the number of passengers rose by 15.5 per cent to more than 2.22 million during the first two months of the current year, compared with figures for the same period of 2016.
The highest number of flights at Muscat International Airport operated to and from India with 67,258 departures and 76,427 arrivals. Bangladesh came second with 17,844 departures to and 22,758 landings from Bangladesh. Departures to Pakistan stood at 16,743, while landings from the country numbered 20,146.
The number of passengers through Salalah Airport until the end of February stood at 209.265 passengers via 1,792 flights.
The number of international flights through Salalah Airport in February stood at 735 flights, an increase of 13.7 per cent compared to last year.
Number passengers
The number of arriving passengers stood at 38.606 passengers, an increase by 9.6 per cent, while the number of departing stood at 41.570 passengers, an increase by 20.5 per cent.
The number of domestic flights stood at 1,039, an increase by 31.2 as the number of passengers stood at 129,089 passengers, an increase by 23 per cent. The number of arriving passengers stood at 64,834 passengers, an increase by 26.6 per cent, while the number of departing stood at 64,255 passengers, an increase by 21.4 per cent.