Era to provide surveillance systems for Muscat and Salalah Airports

The systems will be installed at the Muscat and Salalah airports, under a contract by Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems. The contract - awarded by Indra Sistemas - forms part of the nationwide air traffic management modernisation and upgrade programme for the Directorate General of Meteorology and Air Navigation Services in Oman.

Muscat International Airport, Oman's principal international airport, is currently undergoing a large infrastructure enhancement project in order to cope with the increased air traffic the airport has seen over the past decade. Between 2000 and 2010, movements at the airport have nearly doubled from 36,082 to 67,160 and are expected to grow at an expedited pace over the next decade, due in large part to a rapidly growing hub airline. Similar to Muscat Airport, Salalah Airport, the nation's second busiest, has also seen tremendous growth, going from serving 182,000 passengers in 2000 to 455,000 in 2010 and, like Muscat, expects large future growth.

Era's next-generation surveillance solution was chosen for its ability to adapt to the significant changes that will occur at each of these airports, and to ensure that the surface operations run safely and efficiently both during and after the infrastructure enhancement projects.

Era Systems Corporation senior vice president Kevin Layton said: "Oman's selection of Era's MSS solution marks the second major Era acquisition in the region and further establishes Era as the Middle East's next generation surveillance solution provider of choice.

"MSS is a scalable and reconfigurable solution, allowing for the comprehensive surveillance of an ever-changing airport surface. This makes it the ideal choice for the rapidly growing airports in Oman."

Era a.s. provides cost effective next-generation air traffic management tools that address core challenges like safety, efficiency, profitability and functionality. Its innovative use of proven next-generation technologies, like multilateration and ADS-B, help air navigation service providers (ANSPs) and airport operators ease capacity constraints; improve airspace and ground space efficiencies; and reduce costs.