Madivaru airport development under cross-subsidy model
The airport opened in December 2021.
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President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Thursday declared to upgrade Lh. Madivaru airport for international flight operations on cross-subsidy basis which allows the government to award an island or lagoon for resort development in exchange for project financing.
As per the presidential decree:
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the airport will be developed up to international standards
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minimum financing is $5 million (MVR 77 million)
The government signed an agreement with Kuredu Holdings on May 29, 2018 to build the airport with development starting that year.
The airport opened in December 2021.
Madivaru airport is operated by Island Aviation Service.
Most of the resorts in Lh. Atoll are operated by Kuredu Holdings and its sister company Crown and Champa Resorts,
The airport was built by China's BUCG, which was also involved in most of the development works at Velana International Airport (VIA).
Apart from an air traffic control tower with a runway of 1.2 km, a terminal with state-of-the-art equipment has been developed at the airpoirt.
Earlier, six domestic airports and a residential city at K. Giraavarufalhu were earmarked for development on cross-subsidy basis.
