Air Arabia has begun operations from the new terminal at Velana International Airport. Air Arabia is the first foreign airline to start services from the new terminal. A special ceremony was held at Terminal 1, the new terminal of Velana Airport, to commence Air Arabia’s services. The ceremony was attended by MACL’s CEO and Managing Director Ibrahim Shareef Mohamed, Deputy Managing Director Mujtaba Latheef, Deputy Managing Director Mohamed Lamaan, and Air Arabia’s Manager Airports – South India, Benfas Veliyath Shamsuddin, along with senior officials from MACL and Air Arabia. During yesterday’s ceremony, Air Arabia’s check-in counters were officially opened, and gifts were distributed to 171 passengers departing on Air Arabia. A special water salute was given to Air Arabia’s first flight to approach Terminal 1, and the 165 passengers arriving on that flight were warmly welcomed with cultural activities.
Air Arabia currently operates one daily flight to the Maldives. The airline has decided to increase this to two scheduled flights daily starting from October 27. With Air Arabia beginning operations from the new terminal, it becomes the second airline to provide services from Terminal 1. After the new terminal opened on Independence Day, Maldivian Airlines was the first to start operations. Since then, discussions have begun to start services for 7 additional airlines by the end of this month.
In addition to Air Arabia, airlines currently in discussions to provide services from the new terminal include Chongqing Airlines, Beyond, Xiamen Air, Oman Air, Fits Aviation, US-Bangla Airlines, Bangkok Airways, and Baltic Airways. After Maldivian’s flight experience, the terminal is next planned to be opened for narrow-body flights of other airlines. These are aircraft with approximately 200 passengers. While 7 airlines operating narrow-body flights to the Maldives have been identified, it has been arranged to experience the terminal with these flights for about 3 months.
The new terminal at Velana International Airport was officially opened by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu. The new terminal at Velana International Airport is a modern facility developed with many services. As such, the terminal has 47 check-in counters in the departure hall. Additionally, 6 self-service check-in kiosks have been installed. This is a completely new service introduced to the Maldives with the new terminal.
Furthermore, the new terminal has 24 check-in counters dedicated to seaplanes. Along with this, 12 aero bridges have been installed in the terminal. Each of these aero bridges is equipped with the most modern facilities and air conditioning, which MACL has stated will reduce the time taken to disembark passengers from flights to 8 minutes.
