Maldives gets decade-awaited upgrade: new passenger terminal opens (finally) on July 26

The countdown started last June 21 and will end the morning of July 26., when Malé airport's new terminal will finally open its doors to passengers and visitors to coincide with the Maldives' 60th anniversary of independence.

Anyone who has been to the archipelago will have noticed how the 'lowest' point of the vacation (beyond whether he traveled in Economy or Business) Has been the airport experience. The building that currently houses arrivals and departures is the result of the gradual expansion of the one built more than 40 years ago to accommodate one million passengers a year.

Additions made over the years have increased its capacity, but there are times of day when the facility simply cannot efficiently 'dispose' of the mass of departing passengers, with Very long queues that are created outside the air terminal, where the temperature is almost always well above 30° and the humidity above 80%.

Embarkations are equally uncomfortable, as the terminal has no boarding bridges. E For those traveling business class, the only lounge available is very little in terms of size, set-up, services offered and food & beverage.

Even on the way in, it's no better, as passengers mostly disembarked from Europe after nine hours of travel are catapulted to the hotel and tour operator kiosks outside the terminal, literally being hit by a wave of heat and humidity.

Paradoxically, the new seaplane terminal from Malé to the resorts is a far more luxurious facility and up to the standards of a 5-Star destination like the Maldives than the airport.

But, indeed, from July 26 everything will begin to change, although it will take three months (until the end of October, when the peak season in the Maldives actually starts) for all operations to be moved to the new building which has an area of 84,000sqm (compared with 25,000sqm for the existing one) and a capacity of 7 million passengers a year (compared with annual traffic of about 4.5 million travelers).

 

The work had begun el 2016, along with air-side work that resulted in Velana International Airport having a completely new, longer runway capable of accommodating aircraft up to the size of the Airbus A380, new taxiways, and new remote aircraft parking.

Now, after several postponements, the new terminal (which was intended by the Maldivian government to open as early as the end of 2024) will be operational, making available to passengers a large check-in area, a new duty-free shop, new lounges for premium passengers, as well as eight piers for direct boarding and gates sized to accommodate the 3-400 passengers of the many widebodies connecting Malé with Europe and the Far Easte. At arrivals, the total length of the baggage claim belts will be twice as long as in the old terminal.

We will see if and when the companies (Emirates and Qatar Airways are the main 'suspects') bring the A380 to the Maldives. Until now, due to the sacrificed size of the old terminal, it has been impossible. But with the new one everything will change, and the double-decker could make, at last, its debut in the paradisiacal archipelago as well.

• terminal
• velana international airport