Oman Airports develops new Freighter Incentive Scheme for Muscat and Salalah Airports
It is no understatement to say that 2020 has been an unprecedented time for all, and not least the aviation industry. During this period, the importance of air cargo has been well recognised, and maintaining cargo links to facilitate global supply chains has been critical to supporting communities across the world.
As such, the Cargo Team at Oman Airports has continued to work closely with our business partners all through 2020, with Muscat International Airport remaining open to commercial cargo operations for both dedicated freighter flights and scheduled ‘passenger’ flights used to carry cargo only. The Airport’s cargo facilities have continued to accommodate flights by airlines such as Cargolux, Qatar airways, Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and DHL.
The Management of Oman Airports remain committed to supporting the development of our air cargo network and capitalising on the strategic location of Oman in particular as a cargo hub, not only for import and export to serve the Omani economy, but also as a regional transfer hub linking the Middle East region, Africa, Asia and Europe.
As a result, Oman Airports have therefore developed an incentive scheme, in cooperation with our cargo handling partners Transom Handling and Transom SATS, that supports new airlines operating freighters into and out of Muscat and Salalah.
The incentive scheme will be open to the new freighter operators commencing at any point in the next five years through to October 2025, and will support a route over a two year period with reductions in aircraft handling charges, cargo loading/unloading, and reductions in the cost of build-up or breakdown of both arriving and departing cargo.
Air cargo operators will be able to utilise the state of the art cargo facilities in Muscat International Airport and Salalah airport which opened in 2018 and 2019 respectively. The 33,000m2 facility in Muscat is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and has the capacity to handle 350,000 tonnes of cargo per annum. The Salalah airport cargo facility spread over 20,000m2 area with current annual operational capacity of 50,000 tones, which can be expanded up to 100,000 tonnes per year. In addition, there are three dedicated widebody freighter stands adjacent to both facilities.
For full details of the freight incentive scheme including the terms and conditions please email the Oman Airports Cargo team directly on salim.alshukaili@omanairports.com / airlinerelations@omanairports.com and we look forward to welcoming all new cargo operators to our airports.