Muscat: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Saturday said that the Sultanate of Oman has bilateral agreements in the field of air transport with many countries, aimed at regulating air transport services, including the technical and operational aspects, and strengthening relations in the field of civil aviation.
Naif bin Ali al Abri, chairman, CAA, said that the authority will sign three new agreements in the coming months, while are ongoing negotiations with some countries.
Currently, the Sultanate has 122 agreements, of which 66 are open skies agreements.
He said the authority seeks to invest in these agreements and open windows for national carriers to link the Sultanate of Oman with other countries of the world. He said there are 40 companies serving the airports of the Sultanate of Oman in total between Muscat, Salalah, and Suhar.
Al Abri said there has been a continuous growth in air traffic at the airports of the Sultanate of Oman compared to the past months and "We hope to reach the 2019-levels with the national carriers launching new destinations, introducing new aircraft, and attracting other airlines to the country."
He said the airports of the Sultanate of Oman are currently operating at 70 percent of the 2019 levels and will soon exceed the pre-pandemic levels.
Statistics issued by the Civil Aviation Authority said that the number of passengers using airports of the Sultanate of Oman increased by 30.3 percent in the first six months of this year, compared to the figures for 2022.
Aircraft traffic witnessed an increase of 28.4 percent by the end of June 2023 to reach 9,784 flights, compared to 7,622 flights by the end of June 2022.
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