Test flights scheduled to Hoarafushi Airport, next Monday

The Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation has revealed that they will be conducting test flights to Hoarafushi Airport developed in Haa Alif atoll on November 16.

The Transport Authority revealed that the airport will be opened officially on November 17 and that the test flights will be conducted on November 16.

If there are no issues after the test flights are conducted, the operation of scheduled flights will commence the next day, said the ministry.

Earlier, the Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC) revealed that the project is nearly complete and that laborers are working at the site tirelessly, on a round-the-clock basis.

Although the contractor gave the assurance that the airport will be completed by November 8 and officially opened on November 11, the opening date was delayed.

MTCC assured that the schedule in arranged in a way that ensures balance and that other employees were brought in to ensure that the laborers are not overworked. In addition to MTCC laborers, about 80 more workers from the island are involved in the airport development project.

Transport Authority had contracted the runway, taxi way and apron development component to MTCC on March 25 last year. The development of the airport terminal and fire building were contracted to MTCC on September 12, 2020. MTCC has since revealed that the latter will cost about MVR 13.8 million.

The airport was initially planned to be built in Maafinolhu by the previous administration of now incarcerated former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, and it was assigned to MTCC on March 25, 2019. The airport development project is worth MVR 198 million.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih inaugurated the construction work on March 31, 2019.

The project includes the construction of a runway measuring 1,200 meters, an apron and taxiway measuring 8,635 square meters, a parking area measuring 9,473 square meters as well as service roads in front of the terminal, said the company.