📉 With the Evacuation Wave Receding, Muscat Business Aviation Falls Below Normal
The temporary traffic driven by evacuation operations related to the Iran conflict has subsided, and business aviation activity at Muscat OOMS has cooled noticeably. Avi-Go data shows that over the nearly 90 days from May 8 to August 6, 2026, OOMS recorded 245 business jet movements (119 departures, 126 arrivals), down 20.2% from 307 in the same period last year, indicating a two-way contraction. Earlier, from March to April 2026, the airport had surged to 377 movements due to evacuation operations. The current operational mainstay is the official fleet Oman Royal Flight, which recorded 62 movements to top the list; VistaJet became the most active commercial operator with 29 movements. Outbound flows were highly concentrated toward the Gulf and India—UAE 23 movements, India 12, Oman domestic and Saudi Arabia 10 each, and the UK 8.
Impact: With the departure of geopolitically driven short-term demand, OOMS traffic has fallen below normal levels. Commercial operators that allocated resources based on the peak configuration during the evacuation period will face pressure from declining utilization, and the airport's demand structure is tilting back toward official and regional business travel.
Recommendation: Active commercial operators such as VistaJet should reassess capacity and crew positioning arrangements at Muscat before the end of Q3 2026, avoiding deployment based on evacuation-period peaks; FBOs and ground handling providers can shift their resource focus toward normalized short-haul routes in the Gulf and India direction during September.