Muscat: Flights to Oman from India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan will be suspended from 6pm today.
Per a circular issued by Oman’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), flights from these countries are being suspended till further notice due to the alarming rise in the new mutant strain of COVID-19. Even those who have travelled to these countries 14 days prior to the booked date of their journey to Oman shall be denied entry.
Oman Air is reported to have deployed wide-bodied aircraft to some of these destinations today to cater to the surge in demand from people to fly into Oman before the deadline today.
With many scheduled landings at the Muscat International Airport from various airlines including Pakistan International Airlines from Peshawar, Salam Air from Chittagong and Sialkot, Oman Air from Islamabad, Lahore, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kochi, Trivandrum and Hyderabad, Qatar Airways from Lahore and Islamabad, Kenyan Airways from Delhi, Lahore and Hyderabad, before 6pm today, there will be unprecedented crowd at the immigration, passport control as well as PCR testing counters. Plus, there are flights from other destinations as well which are not in the temporary ban-list.
Mandatory quarantine
Normal flights operations to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh will continue however as there are no restrictions to carry passengers to these destinations.
The passengers must follow the COVID-19 compliant measures put in place if they have to travel to these countries.
Oman currently has a 7-day mandatory institutional quarantine for all arriving passengers, with exceptions among others made on Omanis, children below 15 years, with parents accompanying them and adults above 60 years of age.
