Muscat: An international report published by Airport World Magazine, the official magazine of the International Airports Council, praised the development witnessed by the airport traffic in the Sultanate. There has been a rise in passenger traffic in recent times in Oman.
The report pointed to the efforts for the inauguration of Muscat New Airport and the development of Salalah Airport which forms a remarkable development of the infrastructure of Oman airports.
The report stated that passengers movement through Salalah New Airport increased from 814,000 in 2014 to 1.2 million in 2016, that is a growth rate of 17 per cent, pointing out that the Oman Airport Management Company has helped in attracting a number of new aviation companies to the airport and improving satisfaction levels of passengers for the provided services.
The report added that in the third quarter of 2017, Salalah Airport was ranked first among the Middle East Airports and the eighth worldwide in the category of less than 2 million passengers.
The report also pointed out that Salalah Airport has a growing international network of aviation companies such Qatar Airways, Air India Express, Pakistan International Airlines and Air Arabia. It is also considered as a base for Oman Air.
The report also pointed out that Muscat International Airport had recorded a record in 2016 as passengers number had reached 12 million, that is at a growth rate of 16.6 per cent.
In this regard, the magazine reported that Ayman Al Hosni, the Chief Executive Officer of Oman Airport Management Company has emphasised that the inauguration of Muscat’s new airport will become a turning point in terms of facilities and capacities.
Al Hosni added that the capacity of the new airport will increase to 20 million passenger per annum and will be initially equipped with 29 vacuum bridge and 96 offices for arrival registration and more than 7,000 square metre of retails and food facilities and a hotel consists of more than
90 rooms.