Swissport Partners With Oman's Al Jarwani Group

The joint venture agreed between both parties was inked yesterday (18th Oct) in Muscat. According to Swissport, the step not only demonstrates the ground service provider's commitment to the Gulf region, but also to Oman as an emerging regional aviation hub.
The Sultanate is the second GCC country in which the Swiss handling company operates after having established its business in Saudi Arabia last May.

Best-in-class service
The privately owned Al Jarwani Group will contribute largely through its long-standing expertise in managing businesses in Oman. Both companies are looking forward to bild and grow a successful venture by providing best-in-class ground handling services to airlines serving the airport of the Omani capital, they state in a joint press release.

Oman has high-flying logistics ambitions
With the entirely new and state-of-the-art Muscat Airport Terminal under construction, the Sultanate is likely to become a significant hub for both passengers and air freight.
In fact, cargo plays a key role in the government's plans to further develop the Sultanate to a logistics hub in the Middle East.
However, these plans lead to increased competition with the neighboring United Arab Emirates, particularly Dubai and Abu Dhabi who up to now handle most cargo destined to or transhiped via the Gulf region.
For not playing the third or even forth fiddle in logistics any longer and in order to successively close the gap to the airport in the UAE, Oman has lately started a comprehensive infrastructural modernization and enlargement program.
This way, more carriers shall be motivated to serve Muscat Airport and forwarders together with shipping lines be attracted to opt for Oman as their preferred regional transit point for sea-air traffic.

Heiner Siegmund