SalamAir Adds Erbil as Its Second Iraqi Destination from Muscat

Oman’s low-cost carrier SalamAir will begin twice-weekly nonstop flights between Muscat and Erbil on 25 October, making the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region its second destination in the country after Baghdad. The route is short by the standards of SalamAir’s network but sits in a corridor with clear commercial logic: substantial labour and business movement between the Gulf and northern Iraq, and a growing volume of Iraqi leisure travel to Oman, which has spent the past few years positioning itself as a less-crowded alternative to the region’s larger and busier tourism hubs.

Erbil International Airport has spent the past decade rebuilding its connections after repeated disruptions to Iraqi aviation, and it now hosts a mix of Gulf, Turkish and European carriers. Adding an Omani low-cost operator broadens the pricing spectrum at an airport where fares have often been set by a small number of full-service airlines. Twice weekly is a cautious start, but it is the frequency SalamAir has typically used when opening a market it intends to grow, and it lets the airline test demand without displacing aircraft from established routes elsewhere on the network.

For Oman, the addition supports a broader tourism strategy that leans on regional short-haul markets rather than on long-haul volume. Muscat has been building its appeal around coastline, mountains and heritage sites at a time when several neighbouring destinations have gone in a more high-density direction. Direct access from Erbil removes a connection through a Gulf mega-hub, which matters more than it might sound on a sector of this length, where a single transfer can comfortably double total journey time and eliminate the point of a short trip.

SalamAir has expanded steadily since the pandemic, filling gaps in Oman’s network that Oman Air stepped back from as it restructured around a smaller fleet. Iraq has been part of that pattern, with Baghdad established first and Erbil now following. Whether the route grows beyond two weekly rotations will depend on how the winter season performs, but the late-October start places it at the beginning of the cooler months, when travel across the region traditionally picks up and Gulf leisure demand strengthens.

Sources: Aviation Week, Routes