Muscat: Oman's first budget airline – SalamAir – operated its first flight to Taif in Saudi Arabia from Salalah on Thursday.
The airline will operate two flights a week from the capital of the Dhofar province, Salalah.
Taif is a city in the Mecca province of southwest Saudi Arabia and is only a few hours' drive from Jeddah. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an important extension to SalamAir's network to meet the strong demand for low cost travel," a travel agent in Muscat said, adding that "these new flights will open new tourism, trade and investment opportunities, contributing to the Omani economy by attracting more tourists and business travelers and in turn spur the creation of employment opportunities in the Sultanate."