Record day of the year: More than 27,000 passengers served

The Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) stated yesterday that more than 27,000 passengers would be served at Velana International Airport (VIA) on the day.

Last night, MACL said that it marked the second day of the year they would serve the most passengers they could in one day.

It was estimated that VIA's international terminal would serve 22,142 passengers yesterday. This is split into 11,035 departures and 11,107 arrivals.

MACL stated yesterday that they would serve 4,843 passengers from the domestic terminal. This is split into 2,652 departures and 2,191 arrivals.

Along with that, yesterday also saw an air traffic movement of 239.

The festive and New Year period is the time the most number of tourists travel to Maldives.

MACL CEO Ibrahim Shareef Mohamed said that this is the busiest time in the history of Maldives. He said that they are executing plans to reduce time spent by passengers in queues and hasten services.

During peak season last year, 30th December had the most traffic through the airport. Around 10,300 people were served that day. That would mark yesterday that had the most number of tourists coming in on one day during the peak season.

7,000 tourists on average are coming to Maldives daily this month. The daily average throughout the year has been 6,000 tourists, which is a 10 percent increase from last year.