Passengers from Oman to pay OMR2 extra as airport tax

Muscat: Outbound airline passengers will have to pay OMR2 extra as tax for every travel from Oman airports from July 1, travel agents said, citing a notice issued by Oman Air.
According to the notice, there will be an increase in the ‘OM’ tax from OMR8 to OMR10 for international passengers from Oman and moreover, there will be a new ‘OM’ tax on domestic fares within Oman, effective March 15.
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“Effective from March 15, for travel on and after July 1, 2016, international departure adult and children will have to pay OMR10 as tax,” the notice read.
For domestic travellers, for all airports from Oman, effective for tickets issued on and after March 15, and for travel on and after April 1, up to December 31, adult and children will have to pay OMR1 per sector and the return fare will be OMR2.
“For travel effective January 1, 2017 domestic departure for adults and children will be OMR2 per sector and for return fare it will be OMR4,” the notice added.
Travel agents said the increased amount will be included in the ticket itself.
“The air ticket issuing system itself will include the new tax when tickets are issued to the client,” the travel agents said.
In March 2015, the Oman Airport Management Company had issued a circular stating that all international departing passengers will have to pay OMR8 and transit passengers will have to pay OMR1 as new passenger charges.
According to the latest data available, total passenger traffic (including transit and transfer passengers) passing through the Muscat International Airport, increased by 20 per cent to 1,021,929 passengers during January, compared with 851,588 passengers for the same period in 2015.
Data showed an increase in the arrival of passengers by 22 per cent to 517,473 during January this year, compared with 425,045 passengers for the same period in 2015.
The number of departing passengers also rose by 19 per cent to 501,946 during January this year, compared with 420,629 passengers for the same period of 2015.
The Salalah Airport also witnessed an increase by 16 per cent in the total number of arrivals and departures to 95,152 in January, compared with 81,877 passengers during the same period in 2015.