The newly developed airport in Kudahuvadhoo in Dhaalu atoll – or ‘Dhaalu Airport’ as it will officially be called, has welcomed its very first test flight on Thursday.
On the test flight, the national airline ‘Maldivian’ flew tourism minister Moosa Zameer, Kudahuvadhoo MP Ahmed Amir, a few other lawmakers and top officials of Civil Aviation to the new airport.
‘Maldivian’ has already announced that they will be scheduling flights to ‘Dhaalu Airport’, and that the flight schedule will be released within a week.
The airport was developed after reclaiming 62.81 hectares of land from the island. The development of the airport cost roughly MVR 20 million.
‘Dhaalu Airport’ will also feature a 1800 meter runway which can accommodate 42 aircrafts, and a special area designated to park, and service private jets
An official from the company developing the airport said that they are currently working on the finishing touches of the airport, and that they already have all the equipment and materials needed to complete the new domestic airport.
The government had handed the ‘Dhaalu Aiport’ development to Reollo Investments – a private company based in Male, in 2013. The operations of the new airport will be overseen by Dhaalu Airport Holdings Pvt Ltd, which is a subsidiary company of Reollo Investments.
