Oman is planning to have six new airports by 2028-2029. Upon completion, the country expects the number of passengers using its airports to reach 50 million by 2040 from the current 17 million. In a recent interview during the Future Aviation Forum in Riyadh, Naif Al Abri, chairman of Oman’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), revealed that with the six new airports, the number of airports in the country will go up to 13, which will support domestic aviation and the country’s tourism sector.
Oman opened a new terminal at Muscat airport in 2018, which has a capacity of 20 million passengers a year. Moreover, Oman launched a new terminal building at Salalah with a capacity of two million passengers a year. In addition, it launched new airports in Duqm and Suhar. Moreover, Oman revealed that the new Musandam airport will open during the second half of 2028 with the studies for the project already done.
Oman’s aviation sector surges
Notably, Oman’s airports witnessed a surge in the number of passengers, welcoming 2.7 million by the end of February 2024. Muscat International Airport led the growth of Oman’s airports, with the number of flights rising 17 percent. Moreover, the total number of passengers, including arrivals, departures and flight transfers, surged by 22.9 percent, surpassing 2.4 million passengers during the first two months of 2024 only.
Read: Saudi Arabia sees 20 percent surge in passengers in 2024 at 111 million
The surge in Oman’s airport passenger traffic in 2023 and 2024 aligns with forecasts by BMI, which predicted a 24.7 percent annual growth in arrivals for 2024, totaling 5.3 million visitors.
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