MUSCAT, Nov 29 - For the first time, both citizens and residents witnessed the facilities on offer at the first real-time trials conducted at Muscat International Airport on Wednesday. To begin with, 72 people drawn from a cross-section of society were invited for trials by Oman Aviation Management Company (OAMC). They had registered online for the “scenario test” called by the OAMC. The trials saw them “posing as passengers” heading to both domestic and international destinations. “We are 80 per cent prepared as far as trials are concerned. Passenger safety and security is our top priority. We are currently working on the remaining 20 per cent, which would be hopefully covered soon,” Pablo Lorenz, Trials Manager at OAMC, told the Observer after the trials.
“We are happy with the outcome (of the trials). It was a successful one. We are able to learn more from the public who compared the facilities at the new airport with those around the world,” Lorenz said. “They were generous enough to give us their feedback, which we will seriously look into.” A common check-in system has been introduced, in which passengers don’t have to wait till a gate is opened for checking in. “An airline will have a dedicated set of counters. One can check in any time for any flight before the gate-closing time,” he said. OAMC carried out trials for stakeholders, ministerial delegations and aviation personnel recently, following which several “additions and deletions” were made based on the feedback.
“This is the 16th trial in which we have invited members of society to take part and give feedback,” Shilpi Singh, Training & Familiarisation Facilitator (ORAT) at OAMC, said. The airport will have 96 check-in counters with eight rows. The new airport will be able to accommodate 20 million passengers upon commissioning. “The airport’s actual handling capacity is 20m passengers,” said Lorenz. The airport will offer both staff and passengers international standards of safety, the training for which has been going on for some time.
KABEER YOUSUF
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