Salalah airport work enters final phase

By Kaushalendra Singh — SALALAH — With the completion of overall 80 per cent work, the new Salalah Airport is gearing up to enter into final phase and take up the challenges of commissioning and handing over in the middle of next year.Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications, held series of meetings with the officials of the project client, contractors and consultants and took stock of work status by making a tour of the main building, Air Traffic Control Tower (ATC) and other facilities yesterday. He was accompanied by Sayyid Mohammed Bin Sultan Al Busaidi, Minister of State and Governor of Dhofar. In his comments to Observer Al Futaisi said, “The new airport, work on which is going on in a right direction, would be ready for operations sometime next year.

The structures of almost all the facilities are ready and respective contractors have started the finishing work.

“Thus 80 per cent of the work has been completed. Deadline is set for the rest 20 per cent and hopefully we would be in a position to commission the airport as soon as the contractors hand over the project.” “The completion of the new airport is a big challenge for us, as opening of an airport is not an easy task. Experiences worldwide suggest that surprises come in course of opening. God willing, we are working hard to meet the deadline. After the formal completion of work, there would be period of hand over and handing over to the operator. Then there is trial period before formal inauguration of the airport,” the Minister said. The Transport Minister sounded the contractors to respect the deadline without any compromise in quality, as rest of the work needed more perfection and quality control. In his media briefing at the 56-metre tall Air Traffic Control Tower (ATC), Al Busaidi hoped that the new airport would give an entirely new dimension to Salalah in terms of business and tourist movement. He assured the gathering that he would keep on monitoring the project by making visits and listening to issues, if any. “As a facility, it would serve the interest of the people of Salalah,” he said.

The airport’s new terminal building will have a capacity to accommodate 1 million passengers, which will be upgraded up to 6 million in four stages. It will have a gross floor area of 65,638 square metres and new runway specifications of 4,000m x 60m. The existing runway will become a parallel taxiway and the new airport would have facility to park 1957 vehicles at a time.The existing Salalah airport has witnessed surge in passenger traffic during recent years. There has been increase in frequency of charter flights carrying a large number of tourists from Scandinavian countries, as Khareef Festival has proved to be a big crowd puller from neighbouring GCC and European countries.The new airport will have additional baggage claim conveyor belt to provide a separation between the domestic and international passengers. The baggage handling system consists of state of the art check-in facilities at the departure hall of the passenger terminal building. The BHS has the latest technology for security screening and in the first phase it is designed for 1 million passengers. With more immigration counters and queuing space, the airport would also be equipped with additional rest rooms for the comfort of passengers.

The upgradation of the Salalah Airport is in line with the government’s commitment to establish infrastructural facilities that can keep pace with the international market. In coming days new modifications would be introduced in the arrival area and conveyer belts to smoothen the baggage handling system.