The proposed new terminal at Muscat International Airport would be completed by 2014 and have the capacity to handle 12 million passengers annually. Further expansions planned in three subsequent phases will ultimately boost the airport’ capacity to 48 million passengers by 2050.

The project program is to have the new control tower and second runway completed and operational by the end of 2013, and the passenger terminal and other buildings by the end of 2014.

The new Muscat International Airport would feature a new passenger terminal building with 32 boarding air bridges, a second runway, control tower, cargo terminal to handle 200,000 tons of cargo annually and a car parking capacity for 6,000 cars. The passenger terminal, a grandiose structure incorporating a blend of modern international class airport design elements and Omani traditional motifs, will be built between the two parallel runways.

The new terminal building will have a net floor area of 290,000 sqm and a capacity for 12 million passengers a year. Shopping arcades, restaurants, cafes, elegant lounges, and an 80 bed airside hotel for transfer passengers are also envisaged. The airport will also feature a 101 meter high control tower and a new Air Traffic Management Centre.

The project has been designed to allow for the airport to expand its capacity size for up to 48 million passengers annually, a second passenger terminal building planned in the next phase which will be linked to the first via a system of high speed trains.

Furthermore, the existing runway at Muscat International Airport will be upgraded and supplemented with a new runway. It will be able to handle the world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380.

The project also includes a motorway to the airport with three lanes in either direction, complete with a companion interchange feeding into the existing motorways.

Site Preparation
One of the great challenges in building the new airport in Muscat is to provide adequate drainage of the area, it seldom rains in Oman, but when it does, it pours. Cars and roads get swept away as water cascades down the mountains behind Muscat in great quantities and on into the Gulf of Oman.

One of the areas the rainwater passes to get to the sea is the stretch of land on which the new runway will be as it is a flat, low-lying area, separated from the ocean only by a coastal road, where water can stagnate in the shallowest spots after powerful but short-lived downpours.

As the first part of the project the grounds are raised by three meters to prevent the new runway and the new roads ending up under water, this is being done by driving 10-12 million cu.m of desert sand and crushed rock onto the site.

In order to protect the rest of the airport site from flood surges, as well as a nearby development of luxury residential properties, one of the first steps in the building process was to install three giant outlets, or culverts, to the Bay of Oman. The three culverts will have a combined capacity of 500 cu.m water a second.

There are two ongoing land filling contracts for the new airport site:

• Embankments and main access road into the airport passenger terminal including facilities, commercial area and the headquarters of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation & Meteorology.

• New runway, taxiway, Passenger Terminal Building, Internal roadways and staging area for storage of sand from the sea.

• A third separate contract will be for dredging of sand from the sea which will be used to raise all remaining areas to higher levels.

Project Architects and Consulting
January 2005, the government of the Sultanate of Oman awarded a contract to a joint venture consortium between Cowi & Larsen Architects and Consulting Engineering for the design and supervision of the new terminals at Muscat International Airport and Salalah Airport. The proposed new terminal at both Airports will come in line with the government’s commitment to establish infrastructure facilities that can keep pace with the world markets.

Project Management

July 2006, French Engineering and Infrastructure specialist Airport de Paris Ingenierie (ADPi) was awarded the prestigious contract to provide project management consultancy services linked to the development of Muscat International Airport and Salalah Airport.

The Paris-based group of Architects and Engineers specializes in the design of passenger terminals, cargo terminals, control towers and aircraft hangars. In Oman, ADPi will be supported by National Engineering Services Pakistan & Partners (NESPAK), a leading Engineering Consultancy which has undertaken the design and supervision of a number of major infrastructure projects within the Sultanate.