The development will consist of five main areas — a Muscat Airport Free Zone, a logistics portal, a business portal, an aviation portal, and a hospitality portal.

According to Oman News Agency (ONA), the Muscat Airport Free Zone will occupy a 3.3 million square metre area and will be “devoted to light industries and storage activities for air freight, e-commerce, manufacturing and packaging of national products, in addition to aviation equipment, office spaces, an integrated services delivery station, and public facilities which are available to serve the users of the airport.”

The 200,000 square metre logistics portal will be a hub for air freight services and logistics and will be home to Muscat International Airports air freight building.

Its 1.1 million square metre business portal is being billed as a “mixed-use project” and will act as a nerve centre with office units of airlines and other related economic sectors, states ONA.

A 166,000 square metre aviation portal that includes the passengers’ terminal area and site of the previous air freight buildings, will play host to “aviation, cultural, and social activities, innovation centres for the aviation sector, and a specialized emergency hospital serving the sector in accordance with global aviation safety regulations, and supporting social services.”

Finally, a 192,000 square metre hospitality portal will host duty-free shops, hospitality brands, offices for travel companies, and hotels for travelers or short-term visitors, describes ONA.

This sector component of the project is in development “in cooperation with the national economic sectors that contributed to the building of the aviation sector ecosystem during the previous era, and, through new investments.” Its operations will be assigned primarily to the private sector and SMEs.

Perhaps one of the Sultanate’s most ambitious projects, Muscat Airport City’s objectives, as outlined by Oman Aviation Group at the unveiling, are to “achieve the highest levels of utilization of the new airport’s capacity and increasing air traffic; as well as take advantage of the land area surrounding the airport to create a stimulating environment for the establishment of aviation-related projects.

Source: Oman News Agency

(Also read: Oman’s Transport Ministry unveils ambitious national aviation strategy 2030.)