Global Arab Network | Oman aviation in progress - a new airport to be built

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Oman aviation in progress - a new airport to be built

Global Arab Network - - Mohamed Tamer

Sunday, 24 May 2009 21:16

The sultanate of Oman is preaparing to build a new airport in Sohar. The construction work will commence shortly following the award of a key contract for the first phase development of this prestigious infrastructure project. Strabag Oman LLC, a well-known civil construction firm, has been selected by the Omani government to undertake the Phase 1 civil works package of the airport project at a cost of RO 37.5 million. This contract will pave the way for the phased implementation of airfield infrastructure facilities and a passenger terminal suitably designed and equipped to reflect Sohar’s growing importance as an international-class industrial and economic hub.

Significantly, the new airport will serve both Sohar and the wider Batinah region, which in recent years has attracted industrial, commercial and infrastructure investment in excess of $15 billion. Besides creating a new gateway for passenger, cargo and courier traffic in northern Oman, the Sohar Airport will also serve as a domestic and emergency alternative to Muscat International Airport. Together with plans for a railway line and a new superhighway, the new airport will add to a modern multimodal communications network that will fuel further economic growth in the Batinah region.

Sohar Airport will come up on a sprawling site just off Falaj al Qabail roundabout, about 10 kilometres northwest of downtown Sohar city. Its relative proximity to the major commercial, industrial and economic centres of Sohar, notably the Port of Sohar, Sohar Special Economic Zone and the industrial estate, is seen as particularly advantageous. Many of the features of the new Sohar airport project attest to its international-class design. The entire complex will be designed to IATA Class-A standards, as well as the recommendations and standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Development of the facility is envisaged in three distinct contract packages.

The first package, since awarded to Strabag Oman, covers site preparation works and the construction of access roads, among other services. The second package, currently under tender, involves the construction of airside facilities, including the runway, taxiway, fuel and fire fighting systems, and navigation aids. The passenger and cargo terminal, as well as associated buildings, will be constructed as part of the third package of works. With a runway four kilometers long complete with turning loops at the ends, the airport will be equipped to accommodate and support aircraft as large as the Airbus A380 Superjumbo, which is the world’s biggest passenger aircraft.

On the other hand, the number of arrival and departure passengers through Muscat International and Salalah Airports has increased during the first four months of the current year compared to the same period of the year 2008. The total passenger traffic (including transit and transfer passengers thorough Muscat International Airport has increased by 5 per cent to 1,355,690 passengers for the period ending April 2009 compared to 1,288,612 passengers for the same period of 2008.

Statistics shows an increase in the arrival passengers by 4 per cent to 555,410 passengers ending April 2009 comparing to 533,240 passengers for the same period of the year 2008. The number of departing passengers has also increased by 9 per cent to 519,787 passengers ending April this year comparing to 474,900 passengers for the same period of the year 2008. The increase in arrival and departure traffic into Muscat International Airport is attributed to the increase of the number of flights to most of the airlines operating into Muscat International Airport. Addition to the increase in the number of Omani Air flights by almost 44 per cent comparing the months of April for the years 2008 and 2009.

In terms of air cargo traffic at Muscat International Airport, Aviation Statistics indicate a decline in the total unloaded and loaded freight by 5 per cent, with total shipment (18,459 tonnes) compared to (19,329 tonnes) in the same period in 2008. Salalah Airport has witnessed a marginal increase in the total number of arriving and departing passengers to 129,155 passengers for the period ending April 2009 compared to 127,291 passengers for the same period of 2008. As for the movement of air cargo at Salalah Airport, freight traffic has recorded 35 per cent increase in the unloaded freight, bringing the shipment to 129 tonnes till April 2009.

Global Arab Network

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