Thursday 18 / April / 2024
Muscat: Muscat International Airport has received the first Air Arabia Abu Dhabi flight.
With a traditional water salute, Muscat International Airport, which is adorned with the 50th anniversary of the Omani flag, celebrated the first flight of Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, which will operate bi-weekly flights on Monday and Friday between Muscat International Airport and Abu Dhabi Airport starting from November 16, 2020.
The first inaugural flight arrived on Monday at 7:45 AM departing at 8:45 AM on Airbus 320 and was greeted by a group of executives at Oman Airports, Muscat International Airport and representatives of UAE's Airlines at Muscat International Airport to welcome the new flight.
This inauguration of Air Arabia Abu Dhabi flights comes in response to the increasing demand for business and tourism flights between Oman and UAE, as well as to further strengthen the development of air transport between the two countries.
On this occasion, Saud Nasser Al-Hubaishi Vice President of Muscat International Airport, said, “The launch of Air Arabia Abu Dhabi flights to Muscat International Airport comes as part of Oman Airports' ongoing efforts to boost economic and tourism traffic between Oman and various countries around the world through direct flights, as this reflects the efforts that Oman Airports has been making to promote touristic and economic exchange between The Sultanate and the neighbouring countries, as well as various other countries across the globe, considering that businessmen and tourists are more likely to visit the country more frequently with the option of direct flights being available.”
Al-Hubaishi further noted that since the resumption of operations last October, Oman Airports is focused on attracting regional and international flights to Oman’s airports, given the significant position Muscat International Airport has among the world’s airports after receiving the global airport health accreditation certificate, in recognition of the quality of the services provided for both airlines and travellers.
It serves to note that Muscat International Airport, which is managed and operated by Oman Airports, was the first airport in the Middle East to achieve a global airport health accreditation certificate by the Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific, based on a program designed to assist airports by assessing new health measures and procedures introduced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the view of a global pandemic, precautionary measures followed at Muscat International Airport are in line with the best international standards adopted and an indication of the extent of Oman airports' commitment to applying health and safety measures according to the highest international standards
Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, the first low-cost economy airline based in the UAE capital, launched its first flight in mid-July from Egypt.
Moreover, Air Arabia has commenced operations with two Airbus A320 aircraft from Abu Dhabi International Airport and will provide travellers with the added value services. The company was keen to upgrade the customer experience during the current period in line with local and international directives and to ensure that all safety and health protocols and standards are met throughout all stages.
It serves to note that since the end of August 2020, Muscat International Airport operated 25,681 international flights carrying 3,164,230 travellers, which marked a decrease of 68.6%. Moreover, the number of international flights reached 1,519,919, while the number of departures amounted to 1,637,679 carrying 6,632 travellers, in addition to 6,632 transit travellers.
