Muscat International Airport now in global top 15

The Airport claimed the 14th spot out of the 371 International Airports that were in contention.

A statement by the company read: “The airport managed to leap to the 14th spot internationally from among 371 airports, compared to when it was in the 74th spot among airports of its kind. This achievement also gave it the award for ‘Most Improved Airport in the Middle East.

“This stems from the constant effort by the officials OAMC which began in 2015 when the first seedling of a strategy for Oman’s Airports was sown. This is when a goal was set to introduce Muscat International Airport as one of the best 20 airports in the world by 2020,” the statement added.

The Airport was given its ranking at the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards ceremony and gala, that took place in Bali, Indonesia and was hosted by PT Angkasa Pura I (Persero).

World Director General of the Airport Council International (ACI), Angela Gittens, said, “The ASQ Awards represent the highest possible customer experience accolade for airport operators around the world.

“In an increasingly competitive environment, these airports have recognized that delivering stellar customer experience is an important business tool,” she added.

According to OAMC, “Saud Al Hubaishi, Senior Vice President of Muscat International Airport, expressed his pleasure at the large jump in positions that MIA had achieved and explained that the accomplishment would not have been possible without the massive efforts of all MIA staff and strategic partners who work to deliver achievement after achievement for Muscat international airport.”

“The airport’s ability to compete to reach this position indicates that the aiports services can compete with what is being offered in the largest airports in the world when it comes to high quality services and professionalism when dealing with people who use the airport,” Al Hubaishi said.

Muscat International Airport is spread over 580,000 square metres and can handle 20 million passengers per year, which is set to increase to 56 million when all phases of the ongoing development project are complete.

The ACI is the trade association of the world’s airports and was founded in 1991, and its ASQ programme, which is an indicator for the quality of services in airports, has gained it the trust of over 300 airports and over 60 per cent of the largest 100 international airports in the world.