Oman's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has signed a comprehensive air transport agreement with the EU and member states earlier this month enabling Oman to increase frequency on existing European routes and add other European destinations for Oman Air and SalamAir.

The country also holds bilateral third and fourth air freedom rights with EU member states including France, Germany and Italy.

The agreement would also allow EU airlines to fly into all Omani airports from any member state. Air France and KLM are otherwise the only EU airlines flying directly to Muscat International Airport.

A number of other provisions for commercial opportunities, business expansion, safety and security, ATM, sustainability and fair competition arrangements are also included in the provisions.

The EU-Oman agreement follows two years of negotiations and forms a critical first step in a planned five year strategy targeting a "fully formalised open skies accord".