Construction starts on Muscat airport expansion

CONSTRUCTION STARTS: An artist's impression of Muscat airport following the expansion. (Supplied)

Construction has begun on the expansion of Muscat International Airport in Oman, aviation news website Aviationrecord.com reported on Saturday.

The website said work on a new runway had already begun and a new control tower was “taking shape”.

The report, if accurate, means work on the airport’s expansion is months ahead of schedule.

Engineering consultancy COWI, one of the principal consultants on the project through its joint venture COWI-Larsen, said in a statement on its website in August that construction was expected to begin in “early 2009”.

The expansion includes construction of a new terminal building, 32 air bridges, a new runway and an upgrade of the existing runway, a 90-metre high control tower and an air traffic management centre, and 6,000 parking spaces, COWI said.

The new terminal building will have a net floor area of 240,000 sq m and an initial capacity for 12 million passengers a year, compared to current air passenger traffic of around five million passengers a year, it said.

COWI said the expansion had been designed to allow for passenger traffic growth up to 48 million passengers a year.

The project is expected to be completed by 2011, it said.

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