Oman Airports has announced that Muscat International Airport has received Muscat International Airport and CEIV Fresh cargo accreditations as a community facilitator.

“In the current global pandemic, air cargo has played a vital role in keeping global supply chains open, and has been critical in transporting both medical and safety equipment around the world. With the ongoing global roll out of vaccines, the importance of being able to ensure the safe, secure and efficient transportation of pharmaceuticals is paramount and the air cargo industry is again fundamental.

For this reason, Muscat International Airport is honoured to have received both the ‘CEIV Pharma’ and ‘CEIV Fresh’ certification from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for excellence in the handling of both pharmaceuticals and perishables through Oman airports, and alongside this Muscat International Airport is the first airport in the world to receive both awards simultaneously working as a broad cargo community including Oman Air, Transom SATS, Transom Handling and Swissport, alongside the Airport team.

The cargo community at Muscat International Airport, have worked alongside representatives from IATA over the past eighteen months, to ensure compliance with all requirements. The successful completion of the accreditation program is only possible with a strong partnership approach across the Airport community and is testament to the hard work put in by all cargo partners.

Oman Airports attained a growth in cargo operations of 142% in 2020, handling a range of cargo flights to both offload and upload cargo, but also supporting cargo airlines with technical, fuel stops and crew layovers. The Airport have continued to accommodate flights throughout the pandemic by airlines such as Cargolux, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, Emirates and DHL.

This certification demonstrates the commitment of the management of Oman Airports to support the development of the 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.