Hanimaadhoo airport not designed for wide-body aircraft, minister tells parliament

Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation Mohamed Ameen has said Haa Dhaalu Hanimaadhoo International Airport was not developed to accommodate wide-body aircraft used on long-haul international routes.

The minister made the remarks during Tuesday's sitting of the People's Majlis while responding to a question from Hanimaadhoo MP Abdul Ghafoor Moosa of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

The expansion of Hanimaadhoo Airport began in January 2023 under the administration of former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, using a USD 136 million credit facility from the Export-Import Bank of India. The project was completed and the airport reopened in November 2025.

During the parliamentary sitting, Abdul Ghafoor said residents of the Thiladhunmathi region wanted to see the airport operate at full capacity. He asked why larger aircraft were not using the airport and whether international services from destinations such as China or Colombo could operate via Hanimaadhoo before continuing to Malé.

In response, Ameen said the airport had not been designed to handle wide-body aircraft.

"I had assumed that the honourable members representing that region would be well aware of the airport's actual capacity," the minister said. "The development of Hanimaadhoo Airport up to its opening stage was not carried out with the capacity to operate wide-body aircraft."

He said the airport, in its current configuration, could not accommodate long-haul aircraft operating from destinations such as China.

"Whether it is China or other long-distance routes, Hanimaadhoo Airport, in the manner it has been developed and opened, cannot support landing or provide services to those flights. This airport was designed, and has so far been opened, specifically for narrow-body aircraft," said Ameen, a former pilot.

"Therefore, the suggestion you presented will not work."

The minister added that aircraft such as the Airbus A330, Airbus A340 and Boeing 777 could not operate at the airport under its present specifications.

"Those limitations exist. Therefore, we either have to think differently, or look into a redevelopment project if we want to operate wide-body aircraft from that airport," he said.

According to the airport's development specifications: