The newly built south-west apron at the Velana International Airport (VIA) has officially been opened for operations.
The first wide-bodied aircraft taxing into the newly built apron was the flight A350-900 from Qatar Airways. It received a water salute upon the occasion.
The south-west apron has a parking space of 70,000 square meters.
Associate General Manager of Corporate Communications at the Maldives Airport Company Limited (MACL), Hassan Areef stated that the completion and inauguration of the new apron is a massive progress for VIA.
The new apron has the capacity to accommodate three code-e aircrafts, two code-e dedicated stands and one code-c dedicated stand for particular aircrafts.
“It could accommodate five wide-bodied aircrafts and one narrow-bodied aircraft at once or two wide-bodied aircrafts and seven narrow-bodied aircrafts at once,”Hassan Areef
Further, Hassan said that the first phase of the apron had taken 15 months to complete and that work to complete the second phase is now underway. He estimates the development to be completed within six months. The second phase measures 66,000 square meters.
MACL’s Senior General Manager of Ramp Services, Ali Naseer stated that the apron has been designed in a way that gives airline operations full security, as well as the staff.
He boasted that the apron matches up to international standards.
MACL further stated that the completed space will measure a total of 212,000 square meters.
