The new Salalah Airport, which commenced its operations on June 15 this year, improves air traffic movement, provides greater connectivity throughout the region and facilitates easier access to Salalah and the Dhofar region. The opening coincides with the Khareef season in anticipation of the large influx of visitors who will arrive for the busiest tourist season in the region.
The terminal also features a wide variety of retail shops, restaurants and other services for the travellers’ convenience. Additionally, it offers a VIP lounge, as well as a car parking area capable of accommodating 1,957 vehicles with slots for VIP and taxi parking.
In its first stage, the airport is designed to accommodate two million passengers annually; it will be enhanced to welcome as much as six million passengers in the near future.
In anticipation of Khareef, Oman Air will operate 284 flights between Muscat and Salalah, which is an 11 per cent increase in the number of flights compared to 2014. This will allow the transfer of 352,738 passengers between the two cities.
Overall, the new Salalah airport will receive 28 international flights, which will also be doubled during the Khareef season, and 56 domestic flights in a week, which sums up to 84 flights per week to the newly established airport.
Salalah will also receive a number of international flights from Doha, Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi through Qatar Airways, Fly Dubai, Rotana Airlines and Arabia Airlines.