The total number of passengers travelling through airports in the sultanate (Muscat, Salalah, Suhar and Duqm) until the end of January 2020 reached 1.59mn passengers.

Meanwhile, the number of flights landing and departing from Muscat, Salalah and Suhar airports by the end of January this year reached 9,906, according to the latest data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

The total number of passengers at Muscat International Airport also rose by 0.9 per cent to reach 1.43mn at the end of January 2020, over the same period of the previous year. The total number of flights at Muscat airport also rose by 0.9 per cent to 10,104 flights at the end of January 2020, from 10,013 for the same period of 2019.

The number of international flights at Muscat airport was 9,284 during the first month of 2020, registering a rise of 1.6 per cent over the same period of 2019. The total number of international passengers at Muscat airport rose by 1.5 per cent at the end of January with 1.34mn, including 657,748 arrivals, 680,982 departures and 2,430 transit passengers. Domestic flights at Muscat airport fell by 6.2 per cent to 820 compared to 874 for the same period of 2019.

The arrival and departure of domestic flights also dropped by 6.4 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively. The total number of domestic passengers at Muscat airport fell by 7.1 per cent to 93,157 in January 2020 against 100,290 for the same period of the previous year, including 48,471 arrivals and 44,686 departures, NCSI stated.

According to the report, the total number of passengers at the Salalah Airport fell by 4.2 per cent to 118,771 passengers at the end of January 2020 compared to 123,973 passengers for the same period of 2019. The total number of flights at Salalah Airport fell by 6.9 per cent to 918 compared to 986 in January 2019.

The total number of international flights at the Salalah Airport fell by 7.8 per cent to 380 until the end of January 2020, while the number of domestic fights fell by 6.3 per cent to 538. The total number of international passengers fell by 1 per cent to reach 48,301, while the number of domestic passengers also fell by 6.3 per cent to 70,470.

However, there was a drop in the total number of passengers at Suhar Airport to 32,575 passengers compared to 8,337 for the same period of 2019. The total number of flights at SuharAirport also fell by 27.4 per cent to 242 compared to 190 in January 2019.

Duqm Airport witnessed a fall in the total number of passengers by 5.1 per cent to 4,985  compared to 5,254 for the same period of 2019. The total number of flights at Duqm Airport until the end of January reached 52, a drop of 3.7 per cent compared to 54 in 2019, the report showed.