Muscat – A total of 2,870,810 passengers travelled through Oman’s airports this year till the end of September 2021, a 26.5 per cent drop compared to the same period in 2020.

A statement issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) said, ‘The number of passengers travelling through the airports of Oman (Muscat International Airport, Salalah Airport, Sohar Airport and Duqm Airport) in 2021 till the end of September was 2,870,810, compared to 3,908,289 in the same period in 2020.’

The number of flights to Oman’s airports in 2021 till the end of September was 26,636, including 18,604 international flights at Muscat International Airport, Salalah Airport and Sohar Airport, and 8,032 domestic flights at Muscat International Airport, Salalah Airport, Sohar Airport and Duqm Airport.

Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals comprised the highest number of passengers during this period at Muscat International Airport. There were 82,162 Indian passengers, including 48,519 arrivals and 33,643 departures, followed by Bangladeshi passengers (33,685 total – 20,086 arrivals and 13,599 departures) and Pakistani passengers (26,627 total – 17,437 arrivals and 9,190 departures).

In 2020, a total of 4.10mn passengers travelled through airports in the sultanate (Muscat, Salalah, Sohar and Duqm) till the end of October. The number of flights landing and departing from Muscat, Salalah and Sohar airports in this period was 29,999, according to NCSI figures.
The average drop in passenger numbers in the four airports at the end of October 2020 was 69.5 per cent, compared to the same period of 2019.

The total number of passengers at Muscat International Airport fell by 72.4 per cent to 3.69mn at the end of October 2020 over the same period of 2019. The number of flights at Muscat International Airport fell by 68.1 per cent to 31,321 flights at the end of October 2020.