Passengers using Muscat International Airport – which opened its new, highly modernised terminal in March this year – are benefiting from enhanced operations and overall security experience thanks to Thales.
This new expansion was aimed to service the 17% increase in passenger arrivals per year.
Ensuring the realisation of state-of-the-art technology for operations and security infrastructure was of the utmost importance to the Ministry of Transport and Communication of Oman, which is why it selected Thales, a key international player in security, to fulfil its big ambitions.
The new, highly modernised terminal of Muscat International Airport is now fully operational using state-of-the art security technologies provided by Thales.
Muscat International Airport expected to manage 20 million passengers per year and 177 flights per day.
Recent reports state that the airport witnessed a growth in annual passenger arrivals of 17% in 2017 to 14 million compared to 2016.
Following the latest expansion, including the new 580,000 square metres terminal, the airport is now fully equipped to manage 20 million annual visitors, helping the Sultanate realise its goals in line with the National Strategy for Tourism 2040.
This growth in visitor arrivals is complemented by an increase in aircraft movement, with Oman Air announcing the addition of new routes and fleet to serve Europe and North Africa.
Thales, a major provider of integrated security and telecommunications solutions for critical infrastructures, has successfully met the demand for enhanced security at the new airport thanks to its role as master system integrator for the implementation of the integrated security management solutions.
The state-of-the-art technologies provided by Thales, focus on the Airport Operation Control Centres and include an advanced perimeter intrusion detection system, video surveillance system with video analytics, access control, screening equipment, E-gates, security check points, as well as a full Airport IT suite that manages airport operations supported by an information broker to handle integration and communications between systems.
The infrastructure is complemented by fully redundant data centres, including the server farms and the storage area network, access and backbone network as well as trunked radio systems and network security appliances to ensure high performance, reliability and quality of services.
All systems provided by Thales at Muscat International Airport have gone through a total of 45 operational readiness tests, incorporating over 26,000 participants, successfully meeting and surpassing all expectations and standards.
Roger Daix, VP of Thales Middle East, said: “We are delighted to have partnered with Muscat International Airport to meet the needs for integrated security and operations protocols at the new airport.
“Through our industry leading solutions, we are ensuring efficient operations and the safety and security of the overall infrastructure as well as that of the passengers.
“We’d like to thank the authorities in Oman, the Ministry of Transport and Communication of Oman (MOTC) and Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA) as due to our partnership we are able to continue supporting their efforts in the development of major infrastructure projects within the country.”
This successful implementation is the latest in a long list of projects confirming Thales’s position as a leader in Airport Master System Integration and airport security and operational solutions. Thales secures some of the main high-profile state-of-the-art critical infrastructures such as the JFK airport in New York, Paris and Lyon.
Also present within the MENA region, Thales secures the airports in Dubai, Doha and now Oman.
