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, designed as a high-flying structure, is incorporated with a blend of modern international class airport design elements and Omani traditional motifs. The building will be built between the two parallel runways.
The new terminal building will have a net floor area of 290,000 square metres and will feature shopping arcades, restaurants, cafes, elegant lounges, and an 80-bed airside hotel for transfer passengers. The airport will also feature a 101m-high control tower and a new Air Traffic Management Centre.
Further expansions planned in three subsequent phases is expected to boost the airport’ capacity to 48 million passengers by 2050.
A second passenger terminal building has been planned in the next phase, which will be linked to the first via a system of high speed trains. In addition, 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.
COWI, in a joint venture with Larsen Architects, are principal consultants on the expansion of two international airports in Oman.
