Maafaru International Airport officially opened

Maafaru International Airport has been officially opened for operations today.

A special ceremony was held at the airport this morning to mark the completion of the project. Minister of Economic Development and Trade Mohamed Saeed attended as Guest of Honour.

Other cabinet ministers, senior officials of the government, UAE Ambassador to the Maldives Sheikh Rahma bin Abdulrahman Al Shamsi and senior officials of the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) also graced the ceremony.

The inaugural flight which landed at Maafaru International Airport today was Maldivian's first wide-body aircraft A330-200.

The development of the airport was carried out in two phases through aid provided from UAE through the ADFD.

For the first phase, development of the airport was contracted to Singapore's Tuff Offshore Engineering Services Pvt Ltd on January 23, 2018. The total cost of the project was USD 49 million (MVR 754 million).

The first phase included:

- Reclamation of land needed for the runway and shore protection

- Development of a 2,200 metre runway (with taxiway, apron, firepad/road)

- Development of a passenger terminal

- Development of a Fire and Rescue Station and control tower

- Development of maintenance hangar

- Development of passenger jetty and VIP passenger jetty

- Supply and installation of navigational equipment

- Suppy and installation of MET equipment

- Erecting security fence

- Supply and installation of ground handling equipment

The agreement for the second phase of the Maafaru International Airport's development was signed between the government and ADFD on December 7, 2022. The work was conducted by MTCC under an agreement signed on December 8, 2022. The work was contracted to MTCC for USD 27 million (MVR 415 million).

The second phase included:

- Expansion of the runway to 2.8km, allowing for landing of Code E or the largest aircrafts

- Reclamation of land for lengthening and widening of the runway and shore protection

- Upgrading runway airfield and airfield light

Maafaru International Airport is one of the airports in Maldives which sees the highest amount of traffic from private jets. In May, an Emirates Boeing 777 landed at the airport to test its capacity to handle large aircraft.

The airport, operated by Island Aviation, initially opened for operations in December 2019.