President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih expressed his thanks to those working tirelessly to provide invaluable services at and in relation to Velana International Airport (VIA) despite the prevailing threat of the Covid-19 pandemic.

President Solih visited VIA on Thursday and met with airport staff across various fields.

During his time at the airport, President Solih inspected the progress of various development projects being conducted at VIA, and met with high-ranking officers of Maldives Airports Company (MACL), Maldives Customs Service and Maldives Immigration. President Solih highlighted the determination of employees in providing services at the airport despite the looming threat of the global Covid-19 pandemic.

In addition to this, President Solih took part in discussions about the obstacles currently faced by MACL, Customs and Immigration in the new normal, examining avenues through which the quality and efficiency of services being provided to travelers could be improved.

The President also visited sites of the airport fuel farm, cargo terminal, cargo jetty, apron, VIP building and the seaplane terminal to oversee progress for on-going development projects.

While various expansion programs at the airport continue to proceed at full-speed, work on the fuel farm being developed at the airport is almost complete.

Upon fruition, this project will increase storage capacity for Jet A-1 fuel at the airport from 15 million liters to 45 million liters. Additionally, the capacity to store petrol is also projected to increase to 100,000 liters, with the capacity to store diesel expected to increase up to 1 million liters once the fuel farm is fully developed. Further, logistics work is now underway to phase out fuel bowsers in exchange for fuel hydrants to improve the efficiency of refueling aircrafts at VIA.

Development efforts focused around the cargo terminal include constructing a cargo building and harbor along with office spaces for administrative work. Work on the cargo terminal is projected to conclude by the end of the year, and will increase the cargo capacity of the terminal from 50,000 tonnes to 120,000 tonnes.

The new apron developed at VIA is already in operation, and work has now commenced to renovate the old apron, before which 86,000sqm of the stretch was being used as a parking space for aircrafts. Once expansion efforts on the apron are complete, 212,000sqm will be dedicated as parking spaces for aircrafts travelling through and from VIA.

Development work is also underway at VIA to increase capacity to cater to VIPs and CIPs as well, with the size of the passenger terminal projected to increase to 78,000sqm from the 26,000sqm presently available for use. Additionally, work on VIA's new seaplane terminal is reported to be 99 percent complete, and once operational, the terminal would ease difficulties in seaplane operations along with facilitating the opening of the airports main runway, which is expected to dramatically improve the efficiency of the airport as a whole.

The total cost of the mega-project to further develop infrastructure and services at Velana International Airport is estimated to be around USD 1.2 billion.

Despite difficulties faced due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, the efficiency of services provided at VIA increased last year in comparison to the year 2019. A record number of flight movements have been recorded at VIA during peak season after Maldives opened its borders to travelers in July 2020.