MACL's new fuel farm and hydrant system is expected to enhance its services and speed up its processes.
Maldives Airport Company Limited (MACL) has today officially operationalised its new fuel farm and hydrant network.
In a special ceremony held today, the facility was inaugurated by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.
The new 45 million litre fuel farm will have three tanks to store fuel. The previous capacity of MACL's Velana International Airport (VIA) was only 15 litres. With the new tanks, the farm's capacity is now at 60 million litres.
MACL's Managing Director Ibrahim Mohamed Shareef said that the hydrant network has 8.4 kilometre lines.
"If [we're] refuelling long haul flights, you have to refuel two bowsers. That means with the previous system a long haul flight like British Airways couldn't be refuelled even within one hour and 30 minutes. With the new hydrant system, about an hour to 45 minutes is saved," he explained.
Shareef said that reducing the time an aircraft has to spend refuelling on the ground reduces flying cost, and encourages airlines further.
He also highlighted the important of good quality fuel in such a system, and assured that the MACL team is professionally trained.
MACL's new hydrant system was installed with underground pipelines in the runway, and is designed to increase the fuelling process by three times the speed. While a wide body aircraft's refuelling took about an hour, the new fuel hydrant system changes the duration to only 15 minutes, said MACL.
The company said the fuel hydrant system will reduce the number of oil tankers used on the air side and improve the safety and security of the area.
The new fuel farm will have an average daily capacity of 1.5 million litres, and will also have a special bridge for oil tankers to approach the fuel farm area.
Sign In
