COVID-19: Ministry prepares recovery plan for resuming flight services in Oman

Energy Monday 08/June/2020 11:42 AM
By: Times News Service
COVID-19: Ministry prepares recovery plan for resuming flight services in Oman

Muscat: A recovery plan to restart domestic and international flights has been prepared by the Ministry of Transport and submitted to the Supreme Committee in charge of COVID-19.

The Minister of Transport, His Excellency Dr. Ahmad Al Futaisi said: “The aviation sector is one of the most affected sectors, as there is almost complete disruption of commercial operations since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

”The Public Authority of Civil Aviation (PACA), prepared a recovery plan that was submitted to the Supreme Committee with specific dates to open domestic and then international flights, but the decision to restart air traffic lies with the Supreme Committee based on available data.”

This came in response to a question by a reporter from the Shabiba newspaper during the press conference of the Ministry of Transport on Monday, June 8, 2020.

The number of passengers traveling through the Sultanate's airports increased nearly 3 times during 2019 compared to 2010, the Ministry of Transport stated at the press conference.

According to a statement, the aviation sector witnessed an annual growth of 12 per cent, and flights were received from 21 new destinations in 2019 compared to 2018.

The ministry added that the number of passengers increased three times from 6.2 million in 2010 to 17.7 million in 2019 and the number of direct international destinations increased for Oman Air from 42 to 55 between 2010 and 2019.