Male Airport’s New Terminal: When Will It Truly Open?

Whereas the Maldives is understood for being a luxurious trip vacation spot, the enjoyable doesn’t actually begin till you get to your resort, as Velana Worldwide Airport (MLE) is sort of a large number.

The present terminal was designed to accommodate only one million passengers per yr, whereas present passenger numbers are far more than that (between departures and arrivals, the airport at the moment sees roughly 4 million worldwide vacationers per yr).

Happily that’s anticipated to vary, as a powerful new terminal has been beneath building for a while… when will it really open, although?

Velana Worldwide Airport’s new terminal plans

Male Airport is anticipated to get a brand new passenger terminal, which is able to totally change the present terminal. The brand new terminal is anticipated to have the capability to deal with over seven million passengers per yr, representing a large enlargement over the present facility. The terminal can be 78,000 sq. meters (round 840,000 sq. toes), situated to the south of the present facility.

It’s not simply the elevated capability that’s thrilling, but in addition the passenger expertise. The present terminal nearly appears like a bus depot, and by comparability, the brand new terminal ought to be far more aggressive. The brand new terminal can have precise contact gates (slightly than solely utilizing distant stands), extra immigration counters, an up to date baggage system, and extra.

The brand new terminal can be anticipated to function new lounges. I haven’t really seen particulars on what these new lounges will appear to be, so does anybody occur to which firms have been contracted for that?

It might be superior if there have been a number of lounges, and perhaps even some airline-run ones (like for Emirates), however I’m not holding my breath. Going again a few years, Beond Airways executives claimed the airline would have a devoted lounge within the new terminal, so let’s see if that finally ends up being the case.

When will the airport’s new terminal really open?

Development on the brand new terminal at Male Airport began all the best way again in 2016, so the airport has been beneath building for almost a decade now. What’s so humorous is that each time I journey via the Maldives, phrase on the road appears to be that the brand new terminal can be opening imminently, the identical yr.

Once I visited the Maldives in early 2022, these working on the airport have been all telling me the brand new terminal would open later within the yr. Once I visited the Maldives in the midst of 2024 (effectively, simply to fly Beond Airways), the widespread knowledge appeared to be that the terminal can be opening the identical yr.

I don’t have plans to journey to the Maldives anytime quickly, however for no matter purpose, this challenge got here to thoughts, and I needed to examine on the newest standing. So, what are they saying concerning the new airport now?

In February 2025, throughout his Presidential Tackle, Mohamed Muizzu introduced that the brand new terminal can be inaugurated by October 2025. In order that’s simply 5 months from now. Curiously, a few months in the past there was a promotional video of the president touring the brand new terminal, and in the event you ask me, that timeline appears unrealistic.

Don’t get me fallacious, if building have been occurring prefer it does in China, that will after all be completely attainable. However given the tempo at which this challenge has been shifting (extra Berlin Brandenburg than China), I stay slightly skeptical.