Muscat International Airport’s expansion project, which will enable the airport to handle up to 12 million visitors annually, will be done by March 2014, according to a senior civil aviation department official.
Said bin Khalfan Al Maskari, director of projects, civil aviation affairs at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, told local reporters in Oman that the first phase of the project would be ready by 2014, with a further phase of work dependent on traffic flow.
The work includes a new passenger terminal building, a new runway and air traffic control (ACT) tower and new air traffic management (ATM) system.
The airport will be able to accommodate the double deck Airbus A380 and will have 29 aircraft contact stands and 10-30 remote parking stands. The terminal building will have 84 check-in counters plus several self-check-in kiosks; six international and two domestic baggage carousels; 60 immigration desks and 24 counters for transit passengers.
Maskari says that facilities will be ready by the end of 2013, and that the facility will undergo a rigourous trial and testing period before it is brought online.
The government is also planning to make a decision on contracts for terminal building contracts in Muscat and Salalah soon.