Muscat: An Indian national returning to Oman said he had to pay around four times the price of a regular plane ticket to return to the country.

As of September 1, 2021, the ban on passengers entering Oman from certain countries has been lifted, allowing people, some of whom have been absent for months, to return, resulting in a huge increase in demand, as ‘there are still only a limited number. seats on flights.

“I’m from Mumbai, but couldn’t catch a flight because all the planes were full,” he said. “After researching for three full days, I decided to see what alternative routes were available, as I had to urgently return to Oman and had no other options available to me.

“So I booked a connecting flight from Chennai,” he added. “The ride from Chennai to Oman cost me over 230 OMR which is way more than I would normally pay as a ticket from Mumbai to Muscat usually only costs 55 OMR on a low cost airline, or 100 OMR on a scheduled flight. “

Shukla traveled to India on April 10 to see his family, 16 days before the entry ban for passengers from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh took effect. He had scoured social media and news sites for updates on the lifting of the new measures, and was very relieved when it was finally done in the last week of August.

“I want to thank the government of Oman for allowing us to come back, as many of us have our jobs on the line, which we use to take care of our families at home,” he said.
“My job requires getting out of the office because I work in sales, but my company had allowed people to work remotely if their work could be done that way. “

According to the regulations issued by the government of Oman, Shukla had to take a PCR test at least three days before his departure and upload the results along with his vaccination certificates and the details of his flight on the eMushrif app, which also had to. be shown. to Indian airport authorities before boarding their flight.

“The procedures are pretty straightforward if you know what documents you need,” he said. “It’s the same in Oman, where you are asked again for your documents and then go through the e-gates. I’m really happy to come back here, but to be honest I already miss my family.

Shukla’s company provides him with money to buy plane tickets for his annual leave, but believes he could only be compensated for a portion of what he paid to return.

“My company was telling us that they would provide us with money for the tickets, but only after September 20, because the prices are currently very high,” he said. “Even when I booked my flight to Chennai there was only one or two vacant seats left, so I chose to reserve them before they were full as it was very important that I come back.”