Scheduled flights resume after six months in Oman

The skies of Oman reopened for scheduled flights for the first time in six months. The Sultanate had shut its airport for commercial flights in March to curb the spread of coronavirus as per the directives of the Supreme Committee on COVID-19. Passengers must comply with any prevention measures that will be announced by the Ministry of Health and told travelers to check with their airlines for updates before traveling. “Normal scheduled services will resume from midnight of October following all health and safety guidelines’’, Khamis Muqaimi of Oman Airports told the Observer. Ahead of reopening, volunteers took part in a trial for testing operational readiness of Muscat International Airport last week. The airport also trialed a drive-through COVID-19 testing facility with the help of volunteers. As the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) allowing the airlines to operate only two flights per week to each of its existing destinations, the first flights out of Muscat from the midnight were to Salalah (SalamAir), Dubai (FlyDubai), Lahore (PIA), Doha and Dubai (Oman Air). “While the opening of the borders is a good sign, we hope the government starts issuing new family joining visas at the earliest so that expatriate families separated for months can rejoin,” said Pankaj Madhavan, who wants his wife with a newborn to join him. Oman Air will operate to 16 cities in 12 countries in the first phase, connecting Muscat to London, Istanbul, Frankfurt, Dubai, Doha, Cairo, Dar-es-Salaam, Zanzibar, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Lahore and Islamabad. SalamAir will operate flights to Alexandria, Doha, Bahrain, Dubai, Tehran, Shiraz, Istanbul, Dhaka, Khartoum, Chattogram, Multan, Sialkot and Karachi. Among foreign airlines, Emirates, US Bangla, FlyDubai, and EgyptAir have announced two weekly flights to Dubai, Dhaka, and Cairo as per the CAA guidelines. With services to Duqm and Khasab already in places, domestic services to Salalah will also begin on Thursday. Only travellers with valid tickets will be allowed to enter the departure area of the airport, except for passengers with reduced mobility. As per the decisions of the Supreme Committee on COVID, only Omani citizens and Expatriates with valid residency permits are allowed to enter the Sultanate without the need for prior approval. Expatriates traveling to the Sultanate are required to have international health insurance covering the cost of treatment for COVID-19 for a period of at least one month, download (Tarassud+) application before arriving in Oman and complete the registration on arrival. If the results of the test are negative, passengers staying less than seven days will continue their stay in the Sultanate normally and follow the guidelines of the Ministry of Health. Passengers staying more than seven days are required to wear a wristband and follow 14- day quarantine whether the results are negative or positive.