Aviation activities in the Sultanate of Oman, especially flight operations, have recovered to 90 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels due to effective measures implemented by the government, according to the latest official figures released as the Sultanate of Oman marked International Civil Aviation Day last week.
As per the latest stations, CAA said the movement of aircraft arriving and departing this year was 72,003 aircraft, an increase of seven per cent during the same period in 2021.
Passenger traffic saw an increase of 116.6 per cent to 7,824,103 compared to the previous year’s statistics.
As for the freight traffic, it reached 120,788 tons, an increase of 32.5 per cent in the first ten months of this year compared to the period in 2021.
In his Statement, Naif bin Ali al Abri, Chairman of CAA, said it has been supporting all new strategies and approaches in the field of aviation safety and ensuring sustainable development of air transport that will contribute to the national economic growth in the future and investment in various fields and sectors.
“It has been taking the effort to make Oman a key leader in the civil aviation industry by providing infrastructure in terms of advanced facilities, modern technologies, and qualified and good national cadres.”
During the pandemic, the Sultanate of Oman was among the three Level 1 countries from the Middle East region, followed by the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization during the pandemic as it ensured uninterrupted transportation of medical supplies, goods, and people following health safety guidelines.
According to IATA, Passenger demand is expected to reach 85.5 per cent of 2019 levels over the course of 2023. Much of this expectation considers the uncertainties of China’s Zero-Covid policies which are constraining both domestic and international markets.
Nonetheless, passenger numbers are expected to surpass the four billion mark for the first time since 2019, with 4.2 billion travellers expected to fly.
Passenger yields, however, are expected to soften as somewhat lower energy costs are passed through to the consumer, despite passenger demand growing more quickly by 21 per cent than passenger capacity by 18 per cent.
Middle East carriers are expected to post a loss of $1.1 billion in 2022 and a profit of $268 million in 2023.
In 2023, passenger demand growth of 23.4 per cent is expected to outpace capacity growth of 21.2 per cent.
Over the year, the region is expected to serve 97.8 per cent of pre-crisis demand levels with 94.5 per cent of pre-crisis capacity.
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