With airport expansion, Hanimaadhoo expects intl flights 6 months

Rollers are laying various layers of tarmac on the runway under development, and on one side, water is sprayed on the tarmac by other machinery as the tarmac is being laid. Large trucks take more rock from the surrounding area. Excavators and other various machinery are active everywhere.

For some, this may be a political story. However, this was the scene when the Regional Airports Company Limited (RACL) took journalists on Saturday to see the ongoing project to develop HDh. Hanimaadhoo Airport to international standards.

To be brief, the project is being carried out without disrupting airport operations. The new terminal building and other buildings are being constructed simultaneously with the runway.

Hanimaadhoo Airport Development Project

The runway construction work is being carried out in three main phases. The new runway is being built on both sides of the existing runway. The 1.2 km section of the new runway, called '03 End', is being prepared for opening soon.

"This used to be a huge wooded area. There were tree roots down to a meter deep. We started construction work after clearing the whole area," said Inder Singh, India’s JMC Projects’ Hanimaadhoo Airport Project Director and Site Engineer, told reporters on site.

"In this section of the runway, we have finished laying the DBM layer for an area of 1,200 metres. Then two more layers are being laid. It will take about 15 days to complete that section. So it will be completed before September 10”.

Inder said work on '03 end' of the runway has come to completion and work on 350 metres of the other side of the runway (21 end) has also started.

"There is a 665-metre stretch between the two sections. Since it is an ongoing airport, the work on this section is planned, after the air operations are shifted to the '03 end' of the runway. The operations will be shifted to the '03 end' of the new runway by the middle of next month," he said.

He said air operations would be transferred to the '03 end’ of the new runway within a few days of completion.

The entire runway was previously scheduled to be completed by August 2024. However, the pace of work will be accelerated and Inder estimates the entire runway to be completed by November.

According to him:

RACL has given priority to complete the runway before the terminal. RACL COO Ahmed Ibrahim said the aim is to extend the operations of Hanimaadhoo Airport to 24 hours.

Currently, Hanimaadhoo Airport operates from 2pm to 2am for a total of 12 hours per day. The completion of the new runway will include the installation of lights. However, the operations will be temporarily relocated to three sections of the runway.

"The full runway will be available within the next six months. Our intention is to open the runway to international operations once it is completed, even if the terminal is not completed," Ibrahim said.

While Hanimadhoo Airport is being developed to cater to 1.3 million passengers annually, Ibrahim requested hospitality folk in the vicinity to increase the tourist bed capacity in the area where the airport is located.

"Our request to all tourism related businesses is to add beds to this place [in this area]. The government is also working in this area, but private individuals will also have a huge stake in this," he said.

Although Hanimaadhoo Airport is operated by RACL, Ibrahim said that they are already planning to start marketing activities in collaboration with resorts from both Haa Alif and Haa Dhaal atolls.

"A workshop will be held very soon this year in connection with the resorts. In addition, we will incorporate Hanimaadhoo airport for fairs in the region in the first quarter of next year," he said.

The government has given indications of developing more resorts in the area, but Ibrahim said the existing capacity is not enough to operate the airport.

"The airport is coming [to increase capacity] by 1.3 million passengers. We can handle three flights [A320] an hour per day," he said.

While it takes time to increase bed capacity, the new airport is designed to reduce operating costs, Ibrahim said. It uses the entire terminal at once instead of using separate portions of the terminal as operations expand.

"For example, if you have only domestic operations, you don't have to use the entire terminal. If you have international operations, the systems will be set up to allow you to use them at that time," he said.

Additional buildings being developed under the project:

The project will include a large terminal building at Hanimaadhoo Airport. The space frame will be brought by a Dubai-based company that has done the work at many other airports around the world. It will be assembled in Maldives.

“When the finishing work is complete, it will be as it appears in the photos,” Inder said.

The terminal is expected to be completed by the last quarter of next year. The project contractor, JMC, repeatedly assured that the project would be completed much sooner than the deadline.