Sixth sector to ease air traffic over Oman

MUSCAT: The Public Authority for Civil Aviation has launched sixth sector, which will improve the Omani air space and the communication networks.

The expansion in the air sectors comes within a series of developments in air control, which were carried out by the Authority during the past period as part of its strategic plan which aims at ensuring leadership in air navigation services on the regional and international levels.

Before the launch of this news stage, the Omani air space has been divided into five areas sectors for the management of the air traffic namely the northern sector, the southern sector, the eastern sector, the western sector and the middle sector.

The air traffic at each sector is controlled by two air observers in addition to one assistant air observers.

Due to the dense air traffic at the sector which connects Omani air space with the Indian air space and East Asian countries and as part of the Authority plan to increase the capacity of the air space, the eastern sector has been restructured and divided into eastern sector (A) and eastern sector (B).

Improvements were introduced to the middle sector due to the dense air traffic between the Sultanate and some nearby airports at the GCC.

About 20 per cent of the middle sector space were transferred to the southern sector which has less air traffic — the sector which connects the Omani air space with the Saudi airspace in the western side of the Sultanate, this sector is the biggest sector in the region.

The expansions came in a bid to reduce the pressure of air traffic on the middle sector.

The project included the launch of communication stations, new frequencies and expanding the scope emergency communication, thus enhancing the performance efficiency and Omani air space safety.

The air navigation experts believe that this expansion is very important due to the rapid growth in the number of aircraft crossing the Sultanate’s skies, which stood at 215,000 from the beginning of the year till mid May 2017; a growth by 10 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year.

Dr Nasser bin Mohammed al Zaabi, CEO of the Public Authority for Civil Aviation, said that the remarkable growth made it mandatory for the Authority to develop this vital sector, which the Sultanate attaches great importance.

He hailed the great role played by the national manpower in carrying out these great national achievements.

It should be noted that the Authority is currently working to add a seventh sector for the Omani air traffic, which is expected to be launched by the end of this year.

The capacity of the new Muscat Air Control Center is 11 sectors for the management of air traffic.