Our Story
From a single runway of slotted steel sheets to the gateway of the Maldives.
Beforeitwasarunway,Hulhuléwasanemptystripofsandbetweentheoceanandthesky.Everyyearsincehaslaidanothercourseofasphalt,anotherterminal,anotherarrival-thisistheflightlogofanislandthatbecameagateway.
Touchdown on steel sheets
A Royal New Zealand Air Force Bristol Freighter sets down on a 914-metre runway of slotted steel sheets — the first aircraft ever to land on Hulhulé. Hulhulé Airport is born from that single landing.
The first passengers arrive
An Air Ceylon Avro 748 touches down as the airport's first commercial flight, connecting the Maldives to scheduled air travel for the first time.
A runway built by hand
Malé's four districts race each other to lay a new asphalt runway, volunteers turning out by the hundred. The finished strip opens as Hulhulé Airport, inaugurated by Prime Minister Ibrahim Nasir.
A flag on the fuselage
The first Maldivian-owned aircraft lands on Hulhulé, arriving just as the country's earliest resorts begin welcoming the tourists who would come to define the airport's future.
Malé International Airport
A new terminal opens under President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, built for the growing wave of international tourism the runway alone could no longer carry.
A company takes the controls
Maldives Airports Company Limited is formed to run the airport as a state enterprise, professionalising operations for the decades of growth ahead.
The wave that reached the runway
The Maldives tsunami sweeps over two-thirds of the airport island, closing the runway for roughly ten hours — a reminder of how low, and how exposed, this strip of coral sand really is.
Two new names
Renamed Ibrahim Nasir International Airport in 2011, then Velana International Airport in 2017 — after Nasir's ancestral family house — as a billion-dollar expansion begins.
The island joins the mainland
The Sinamalé Bridge opens, linking Hulhulé to Malé and Hulhumalé by road for the first time — after 58 years of arriving only by boat.
An A380 on Hulhulé
An Etihad Airways Airbus A380 makes the first test landing on the new 3,400-metre runway — the aircraft that was pure fantasy on that 1960 steel strip.
The world's largest seaplane terminal
The new runway becomes fully operational and the Noovilu Seaplane Terminal opens, built to hold more than 55 floatplanes at once.
Terminal 1 opens
Timed to the Maldives' 60th Independence Day, the new $585-million passenger terminal opens — five times the capacity of the building it replaces.
What began with a single Bristol Freighter on a strip of steel sheets is now the sole gateway to an entire nation of islands - forming the global Maldives hub.
Recent Milestones
A decade of unprecedented development, transforming Velana International Airport for the future.
Biggest Airport Development
Inaugural of the project. Current Airport capacity 1.8M Passengers
VIP/CIP Terminal Phase 1
Spanning approx. 3,200 sqm, accommodates up to 120 passengers at a time
Noovilu Seaplane Terminal
Accommodate approx. 1,000 passengers per hour
New Cargo Terminal
Improved capacity from 50,000T to 120,000T of cargo
Fire Station & Fuel Hydrant
Approximately 3 times the size of its' predecessor, measuring roughly 37,000m²
Passenger Terminal (T1)
Capacity to welcome 7.5M passengers annually