Velana International Airport (VIA) is currently working on their final preparations to land Etihad Airways A380-800 flight, the largest Airbus to be landed in the Maldives history, for the inauguration of the new runway on September 18.
The historic first landing will be done by, Ahmed Ahsan, the only local pilot licensed to land an Airbus A380 Flight.
The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by European manufacturer Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner, and it can accommodate a total of 700 people onboard.
The new runway built at VIA is 3,400 metres long and 60 metres wide in size.
The development new runway is aided by China's 'Exim Bank' under a project carried out in partnership with China's Beijing Urban Construction (BUC), via a loan of USD 400 million. In addition to the new runway, plans are underway for a fuel farm catering to 45 million litres as well as a cargo facility of 80,000 tonnes.
Whilst the runway is yet to be unveiled, an Air India plane, in an accident, had claimed the landing on the runway.
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