Passenger traffic at Muscat International airport grew sharply during June this year, the same month a travel and trade embargo was imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain.

According to a report issued by the Montreal-based Airports Council International (ACI), traffic grew by 17.5 per cent in June when compared with the same period last year.

Since the travel restrictions were imposed in the first week of June there have been no direct flights from Saudi Arabia, the UAE or Bahrain to Qatar. To reach Qatar, people have had to change flights and Muscat has been one of the most popular connection points.

During June, July and August, executives travelling to Qatar from the UAE said it has become increasingly difficult to get flights to Qatar from the UAE routing through Muscat due to increased demand.

The ACI report also showed passenger traffic across the entire Middle East grew by 3 per cent in June 2017 compared with June 2016.

Muscat International is being expanded. Construction is expected to be completed before the end of 2017. The airport expects to enter full operations by early 2018.

The expanded airport will have the capacity to handle up to 12 million passengers a year. Succeeding phases of the expansion plan entail bringing the airport’s capacity to up to 48 million.