Muscat International Airport completion by end-2017: minister

Ahmad Al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications, affirmed on Sunday that 96 per cent of the new Muscat International Airport terminal is completed.

Al Futaisi added that the terminal will be in operation by the end of this year.

The new Muscat International Airport is expected to have a capacity to handle more than 12 million passengers every year and is expected to reach 48 million passengers after completing a number of four-phased construction projects, according to the minister.

The first stage will cover 580,000 square metres and will feature 86 check-in counters, 10 baggage claim belts, 40 gates for both departure and arrival, 29 waiting lounges, 29 aircraft stands with jet-bridges as well as a new control tower.

The new terminal will be able to handle large aircraft such as the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 747. Once the new terminal is complete and becomes fully operational, the existing terminal will be used for low-cost carrier operations.

This was announced during the ministry’s annual media meeting on Sunday.

Passenger volume at the Muscat International Airport soared 16.6 per cent in 2016, driving numbers up to more than 12.03 million from 10.31 million in 2015, according to the latest data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

Compared to 2015, the number of international flights at the airport also went up by 11.6 per cent to 93,822 (46,913 landings and 46,909 take-offs).

There has been an increase of 17.3 per cent in the number of international passengers at more than 11 million, comprising over 5.54 million arrivals, 5.43 million departures and 27,638 transit passengers