Gan Airport will be turned into an aviation hub: Ameen

Transport Minister Mohamed Ameen stated today that Gan International Airport (GIA) will be turned into an aviation hub in southern Maldives.

The "Southern Connectivity" operation, which will connect Gaafu Alif Atoll, Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll, Fuvahmulah and Addu via aviation, was inaugurated at Gan, with Ameen saying the government is working to have a Middle Eastern airline and a Chinese airline operate at Gan. He also said that airlines need to be brought to GIA even with major concessions.

"Hopefully, we will change the state of the airport. We aim to transform GIA into a southern aviation hub in the Maldives, where airlines will congregate," said Ameen.

The minister went on to say that GIA has the capacity to operate all sizes of airplanes which are in use by commercial airlines across the globe. He did say however, that the work relative to operating such airlines at GIA had not been done.

"Along with that, everything related to tourism had also not been put into place properly. Nevertheless, we hope to expand the scope of tourism at Fuvahmulah, Huvadhoo and Addu with the establishment of air connectivity services that will come with the inauguration of such a service today," stated Ameen.

The minister said that President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu had requested not only to establish airports, but that his vision is to make full use of all these resources and to ease the lives of citizens.

Maldivian has reconfigured their DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft to be able to land on runways by installing wheels. With that, the aircraft can now land at Addu Gan, Fuvahmulah, Kaadedhdhoo and Kooddoo airports.

At the service inauguration ceremony was held today at Addu Gan, Island Aviation Services (IAS) Managing Director Ibrahim Iyas stated Gan International Airport will be used as a base for the flights, which will have daily flights. MD Iyas said that it will ease air travel for everyone.