Muscat Airport records 14% rise in passengers

IATA data for 2011 has confirmed a record year for international passenger arrivals to Muscat International Airport. Muscat recorded 2.4 million arrivals, a rise of 14 per cent. The 2011 data also showed a 13 per cent rise in passenger arrivals to Salalah (Oman’s second largest city in Dhofar). Road and cruise ship activity also increased. Maitha Al Mahrouqi, Undersecretary of Oman’s Ministry of Tourism said: “2011 was a challenging year for our tourism industry, but the IATA data confirms solid growth from our key tourism markets. This shows that our aligned tourism and aviation strategies are working, while our wider international airline partners are also growing their underlying business.” IATA data shows growth in 2011 from the United Kingdom (7 per cent), Germany (6 per cent), Netherlands (15 per cent), Belgium (33 per cent), Italy (77 per cent), Switzerland (28 per cent), Russia (50 per cent) while arrivals from France remained the same. The large GCC inbound market (618,877 passenger movements) jumped 27 per cent. In addition, the data confirms a large rise in Oman Air’s transit passenger movements.