Seaplane services to launch in Hanimaadhoo ‘soon’

Officials from the Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) told the Parliament’s State-owned Enterprises Committee on Tuesday that the company is working on launching seaplane services in HDh. Hanimaadhoo soon.

In a meeting with the SOE Committee on Tuesday, Mujtaba Latheef, the Deputy Managing Director of MACL, said that it is important that the Hanimaadhoo International Airport offers seaplane services by the time the airport’s expansion works are done.

“An international airport can only truly be feasible if there’s access to nearby [tourist] beds. Therefore, this is only feasible if the tourists who come on planes to Hanimaadhoo are able to access the resorts and other [tourist] properties within a 180-kilometer radius,” he said.

Mujtaba said that the MACL will build and operationalize a small seaplane terminal by the time the Hanimaadhoo Airport expansion project is complete.

“We will establish seaplane services in Hanimaadhoo very soon,” he said.

“…. Therefore, our plan is that, though there may not be a seaplane terminal there by the time the airport reopens, our plan is to quickly build a small terminal and begin operations. When that happens, we can move some of the planes that land at the VIA [Velana International Airport]”.

Hanimaadhoo Airport expansion project was awarded to India’s JMC Projects Limited for USD 136.6 million.

The project is financed by a line of credit executed between the Maldivian government and India’s EXIM bank in 2019.

The project includes the development of a terminal that can accommodate up to 1.3 million passengers per year, the development of a 2.46-kilometer runway and a 42,000 square feet apron.