Cairo: Passengers using Oman’s airports had dropped by over 50 per cent in the first five months of this year compared to the corresponding period of 2019 amid COVID-19 restrictions.
Around 3.5 million passengers travelled through the Omani airports aboard 28,331 flights compared to 7.2 million travellers in the same period last year, according to the Omani news agency ONA. .
The number of flights in the first five months of the year, which coincided with the global new coronavirus pandemic, decreased by 46.2 per cent against the same period of 2019, ONA added.
Of the total travellers in the first five months of this year, 3.2 million used the Muscat International Airport, Oman’s main airport, marking a 51 per cent drop compared to the same year of last year.
Around13, 000 travellers used the Muscat International Airport in May alone, including 11,377 on international flights to and from the sultanate, and 1,629 aboard domestic flights.
Indians took the lead in numbers of travellers using the Muscat airport in May with 3,148 passengers including 3,083 departing and 65 arriving in the sultanate, the Omani newspaper Shabiba reported.
Coming second were the Pakistanis with 2,442 passengers followed by Bangladeshis with 830.
Like other Gulf countries, Oman imposed strict restrictions, including a halt to flights, to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The sultanate has recently relaxed some virus-related curbs.
Foreign migrants make up around 2 million of Oman’s 5 million population.
