Muscat Airport readies for a facelift
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Recent reports stated that the expansion work at Muscat International Airport is on track and will be completed on time, as reported by Times of Oman.
In a recent development, Oman Airports Management Company (OAMC) extended invitations to retailers and food and beverage traders for ‘duty free services and luxury retail’ at the US$1.8bn new Muscat international airport, which is due to open next year.
Muscat Duty Free (MDF) has been running its trade at the existing Seeb Airport (from departures and arrivals shops) since 2003 as a 50/50 joint venture company between Oman Air and Aer Rianta International Middle East.
The existing Muscat International Airport is directly connected to 55 destinations in 27 countries by 33 international airlines, having served 9.1m passengers in 2013. By contrast, the New Muscat Airport will initially have the capacity to handle 12m passengers annually.
Three subsequent expansion phases are planned to increase the airport’s annual capacity to 24m, 36 m and 48 m passengers when projected demand requires it. Around 16,195,637 passengers are expected by 2020, compared to the 9,142,019 handled in 2014. The airport is due for opening by end of 2016, and will boast of a total capacity of 36 m passengers.
Passenger traffic at Muscat and Salalah airports recorded a growth of 9.1% and 12.1% respectively. Figures released by National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) show that passenger traffic at both airports reached 3.51mn by the end of April this year. The number of passengers, including both transfers and transit through Muscat International Airport reached 3.22mn.
The number of international flights at Muscat airport till April touched 26,241, an increase of 9.7% compared to 2014. The number of arrivals reached 1.49 million while number of departures touched 1.43 million. Meanwhile, passenger traffic at Salalah Airport till the end of April touched 288,715, travelling on 2,981 flights.
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