Velana International Airport (VIA)’s New Runway Officially Begins Operations On October 6th

Thursday 29th of September 2022

Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) has announced that the new runway featured in Velana International Airport will officially commence operations starting from October 6th onwards. Moreover, MACL also stated that the newly established sea plane terminal ‘Noovilu’ will be officially launched on the same date as well.

During last week, MACL has also installed and calibrated the Instrument Landing System (ILS) on both ends of the newly built runway in preparation for the operations. ILS is a navigation aid used in aviation to cater for pilots during landings in extreme weather conditions.

With a length of 3.4km and width of 65m, the new runway can facilitate landings of the largest commercial class aircrafts in the world, including the wide-bodied passenger aircrafts of Airbus A380 and Boeing 777s. Once the new runway is fully under operation, the old runway will be utilized as a taxiway.

In addition to the inauguration of new runway operations, the sea plane terminal will also be officially opened on October 6th. ‘Noovilu’ comprises part of VIA’s large-scale investment to upgrade the services provided by the airport and comes fully equipped with many facilities for travelers. This includes VIP lounges, F&B stations as well as retail shops, baggage handling facilities and etc.

Even though, the works of the new runway were completed back in 2018 under the administration of ex-President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom, the runway was not under operations. This was because relocation works were underway to move the seaplane operations to the newly built terminal ‘Noovilu’.