People in Oman asked to arrive early at airports to beat summer holiday rush

Muscat: People who are flying out of Oman for their summer holidays have been advised by travel agents and airline bosses to show up at airports well in advance of their flight, so that they can avoid long queues and crowding.

“Many people are going to see their families back home after nearly three years, because they were unable to fly due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said a travel agent in Oman. “After being required to stay in the country because of global restrictions, demand for travel has soared this year.

“The airports are anyway crowded during the summer holidays, so we ask people to leave for the airport with plenty of time to spare,” he added.

Many airlines operating flights to and from Oman expanded their coverage to the country, owing to current and expected increase in demand for seats.

“With the summer holidays fast approaching, we expect more demand for flights,” said Mohammed Arif, country manager for Pakistan International Airlines, which boosted operations by increasing the number of weekly flights from nine flights to Oman before the pandemic, to 20 at present. “In the coming days, we expect to add two more flights to our schedule, so if all goes well, we will have 22 flights a week connecting Oman and Pakistan.”