Oman Airports Attended IATA Slot Conference in Atlanta, USA

Oman Airports attends the IATA 139th Slot Conference, in the United States of America, Atlanta - between the 8th to the 11th of November 2016. The event represented over “1100 delegates, from over 220 airlines and representatives of over 70 scheduled-facilitated or fully coordinated airports, this semi-annual meeting is one of IATA's largest events.

The goal of the conference is for airlines and airports to obtain the slots that will give them the best possible schedule to offer their customers” (IATA.org).   For the second year in a row, Oman Airports’ Commercial Airline Marketing team attends IATA Slot Conference hoping to meet with existing and potential airline representatives to discuss slot availability and future routes to the Sultanate of Oman.

The commercial operation team booked important meetings with promising targeted airlines and network managers, discussing potential possibilities in adding new frequencies or implementing new routes to Oman Airports, including Muscat, Salalah, Sohar and Duqm airports.

Dagmo Ahmed, Airline Marketing Manager, stated that “the long-term goal is to connect Asia and Africa (specifically China) as well as Asia and Europe. We are concentrating in African and Asian continents to which includes some commercial airiness form that part of the world.” 

The number of passengers at Muscat International Airport exceeded 10 million passengers, and Salalah Airport broke its record to over 1, 0 million passengers to the newly opened state of the art airport; resulting in an increase in both domestic and international travel.

Oman Airports aims to have a couple of new airlines to start operating to MCT during this year, and more is planned to commence in 2017. Both Oman Airports and Oman Air are working together to strengthen the transfer traffic via Muscat hub.  The last conference at World Routes, Chengdu; opened doors to develop, initiate, and progress new networking chances- making it accessible to reaching Oman Airport's target goal.

33 airlines are operating to and from Muscat International Airport. The current passenger traffic at Muscat International Airport throughout the period from January to September 2016, recorded total growth of 9,005,906 Passengers, in comparison to 2015, which had an overall of 7,602,169 passengers, Recording 18 % increase over the same period last year.

Oman Airports’ Targets would be an increase in passenger figures- in an estimation of 10 million passengers this year and foresee more business provided for growth in the coming years to come.

Moreover, Muscat International Airport will have two huge runways accommodating A380 aircraft and many airline parking slots to which helps with booking new suitable slots for future airline customers.

There are great terminal improvements at the new Muscat International Airport. Having better Wi-Fi accessibility and faster immigration flow, holding a bigger range of retail outlets, a first aid clinic, smoking rooms, Pharmacy, Express Duty-free, Children’s play area, a nursery, ATM’S, food and beverages, cafes/ restaurants and much more. Passengers coming through Muscat International Airport will feel calm and satisfied. Oman Airports is extremely active and are working hard for the successful launch of the new Muscat International Airport.