First flight will land at the new Muscat airport 6:00 pm on March 20

Oman's Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA) has confirmed the first flight to land at the new airport is expected to arrive at 6:00 pm on March 20, 2018.

The final flight to leave the old Muscat International Airport will take off at 3:00 pm the same day, the authority revealed in a press conference on Wednesday, with 177 flights to pass through the new passenger terminal at the airport on the first day.
 

Authorities also said that the preparations for the opening are 89 per cent complete and will be concluded by March 14.

Speaking at the conference, PACA CEO Dr. Mohammed Al Zaabi added that to ensure the readiness of the new passenger building at Muscat International Airport, "40 readiness tests so far out of a target of 45 have been performed, involving about 21,000 participants and volunteers".

Quoting Dr. Al Zaabi, Oman's Ministry of Transport and Communications said, "In addition, more than 4,000 people have participated in a take-off test. The number of simulated flights reached 786 and more than 82,000 bags were used, in addition to more than 26 accompanying exercises. These exercises will continue until the airport is operational."

To help passengers in the transition, the ministry will be putting out advertisements on various media.

The ministry said, "In addition to advertisements through social media platforms and local and foreign newspapers, billboards will be displayed at the current airport and on the streets of Muscat from 1 March 2018.

"As part of the media plan, text messages will be sent to all passengers, citizens, and residents in different languages to inform them of the move to the new international airport."