Muscat Airport’s cargo hub bid
12 / 06 / 2012
OMAN is to transform Muscat International Airport (MIA) into an “international gateway and air freight logistics hub” to cope with anticipated demand over the next two years, the country’s airports chief says.
Vic Allen, acting chief executive officer of Oman Airports, reveals the new cargo terminal at the capital city’s airport, will initially have a capacity to handle 260,000 metric tonnes annually.
This will later rise to 500,000 tonnes, more than rivaling the facility’s existing tonnage of 100,000.
The revamp, to be rolled out in the three phases, includes expanding the warehouse space from 7,000m2 to 34,000 and installing a new 90m2 freezing area.
Up to 500,000m2 of land around the airport has also been earmarked for “commercial development including logistics”.
Muscat’s cargo terminal is currently operating at full capacity and logistics facilities are non-existent.
“A complete supporting infrastructure will be in place and business units [will] range from 500m2 to 1,000m2,” adds Allen.
Cargo-handling capacity will also be expanded at Oman’s three regional airports: Duqm, Salalah and Sohar.
“These airports will have their own independent cargo operations and will be connected to Muscat hub,” he says.
