Malé, Maldives – The new runway at Velana International Airport (VIA) has been made operational today.
The runway, located at the main transportation hub of the country was inaugurated by Vice President Faisal Naseem.
The new Code F runway measures 3,400 meters by 65 meters, and features advanced navigational technologies to increase runway throughput. With this planes as big as A380s can safely land on the runway.
The new runway also increases hourly flight departure capacity of the airport from 8 to more than 20. It also decreases runway clearing time from 10 to 2 minutes and is also expected to reduce flight delays at the airport.
The first plane to land at the new runway was an Emirates flight that landed at 07:20 this morning.
Following the inauguration of this runway, the old runway at VIA will be used as a taxiway from now on.
VP Faisal also inaugurated the Noovilu Sea Plane Terminal at the airport today, which features dedicated arrival lobbies as well as common and exclusive lounges. This is home to the largest sea plane fleet in the world.
