New Route of the Day III (24 October 2021): Air France between Paris CDG and Muscat

Air France has added Muscat in Oman to its route network, with the launch on 24 October of 3-weekly service (Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays) from Paris CDG, via Dubai on the outbound flight. Flights are set to become non-stop in both directions from 18 December according to Cirium Data and Analytics schedule information. Air France is using Boeing 787-9s on the 5,580-kilometre route. Air France’s other non-stop services to the Middle East this winter are Beirut (Lebanon), Dubai (UAE) and Tel Aviv (Israel). The airline’s flights to Amman in Jordan, which was served with between five and seven weekly flights until March 2020, have yet to resume.

There are 35 weekly flights between Europe and Muscat at the start of the winter season (w/c 8 November) according to Cirium Data and Analytics. The leading services by weekly frequency are:

• Oman Air to London LHR (7-weekly)
• Pegasus Airlines from Istanbul SAW (4-weekly)
• Turkish Airlines from Istanbul IST (4-weekly)
• Oman Air to Frankfurt, Istanbul IST, Milan MXP, Munich and Paris CDG (all 3-weekly)
• Oman Air to Zurich (2-weekly)
• Salam Air to Istanbul SAW (2-weekly)
• Salam Air to Trabzon (weekly)

Of the 35 non-stop flights to Oman, 14 are from airports in Turkey, seven are from the UK, six from Germany, three from both France and Italy, and two from Switzerland. Oman Air accounts for 24 of the weekly frequencies.

Prior to the pandemic in August 2019, Athens, Manchester and Moscow DME also all had non-stop service to Muscat. All of these routes were operated by Oman Air.