Success in the Sultanate

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Expanding hub: The next few years will see expansion of freight facilities at Muscat International Airport, which will be able to handle 200,000 tonnes a year.

We take an in-depth look at the many infrastructural developments that are being undertaken for the aviation industry in the Sultanate of Oman.

It is now just over 40 years since the first oil tanker docked at Mina Al Fahal port - or Saih Al Maleh, as it was then known - to begin the process of transporting Oman's most precious natural resource to the world economy.

Since that time, over 7.5 billion barrels of oil have departed Omani shores and new finds and updated technology seem to indicate that as a primary source of wealth, the oil industry still has a bright future.

But, along with other Gulf nations, Oman has long been seeking to diversify its markets, and has seen rich success through the construction of major port developments, such as those at Sohar and Salalah, on the sultanate's Indian Ocean shoreline.

The results are impressive; Oman qualified as a member of the WTO in 2000 and a recent survey conducted by the Maktoob Research company indicated that the Sultanate's citizens, along with those of Saudi Arabia, are the amongst the happiest in the GCC region.

As part of Sultan Qaboos' development plans, which started in 1976, the diversification of the Omani economy has focused on industry, information technology, tourism and higher education.

With regard to industry specifically, the state's future plans are concentrating on gas resources, metal manufacturing, petrochemicals and transhipments through Oman's growing ports.

From a freight point of view, the Sultanate is certainly more famous as a base for ocean transport, but the growth witnessed at the country's airfreight facilities is notable too.

In common with other countries in the Middle East, the increasing volume of both passenger and cargo volumes have given rise to airport developments, and Oman is upgrading both its international facilities to match the investment put down by its GCC neighbours.

Oman has two major airports, Muscat International (formerly known as Seeb International) and Salalah, both of which have significant airfreight facilities. Of the two, Muscat International Airport is by far the more substantial and is as a result subject to a higher level of development.

The Muscat facility saw just over 4.2 million passengers pass through its doors in 2007, and this figure was complemented by an annual airfreight volume of 77,391 tonnes.

However, the new airport, which is scheduled to be in place by 2011, envisages a total freight throughput of 200,000 tonnes of cargo annually, in a terminal building that will have a net floor area of 290,000m² and capacity for 12 million passengers a year.

From a passenger perspective, a further terminal currently being planned will increase volumes still further, to a reported 48 million people a year.

In order to prevent the runway development site being deluged by the occasional rainstorms that affect the mountains around Muscat, the area is being raised by around three metres by driving around 10-12 million cubic metres of rock and sand onto the location.

Three giant culverts are also being constructed, which will enable surface runoff into the Bay of Oman. In July 2006, French infrastructure specialist Airport de Paris Ingenierie (ADPi) was awarded the contract to design and supervise the development of the new airport.

The engineering consultancy firm, which specialises in the construction of passenger terminals, cargo facilities, control towers and aircraft hangars, will be supported by National Engineering Services Pakistan & Partners (NESPAK), another company that has also cooperated on a series of other major infrastructural projects in the Sultanate.

Currently, all of Muscat International Airport's cargo operations work under the umbrella of the Services & Delivery Division of Oman Aviation Services. "We aim to provide high standards of service in terms of cargo, combining our expertise in airfreight management with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, including an automated cargo handling system," says Sami Abu El-Fatouh, manager, Oman Air Cargo.

We can offer everything from 24-hour operations for the import and export of cargo, specialised storage facilities for dangerous and hazardous cargo, in addition to products requiring cold storage or freezer storage. We also offer high-level security, including an x-raying process, under the strict control of Royal Oman Police Airport Security.

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