It has hosted Royal Air Force BAe Nimrods in the past, including for the 1991 Gulf War.

101 Squadron RAF during the Gulf War training with Royal Air Force SEPECAT Jaguars.

It originally featured one passenger terminal building and one runway, as well as minor cargo and maintenance facilities.

This new building initially brought the airport's capacity up to 20 million passengers a year upon completion of the first phase.

[6] Subsequent enlargements under second and third phases will increase the airport capacity to 24 and 48 million annual passengers respectively.

Built in 1970, it opened in 1973 as a replacement of the Bait al-Falaj airport and has been expanded several times during the last years to cater for growing passenger numbers.

During its years of operation, passengers and crew were transported to and from the aircraft using shuttle buses as the terminal offered no jet bridges.

[8] The old facility was planned to be redeveloped into a low-cost carrier terminal,[10] but was instead turned into a field hospital and COVID-19 vaccination site ever since the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.

The Route A1 operates between Mabela and Ruwi bus station with a stop at Muscat Airport.