The Making of Fuvahmulah Domestic Airport, Maldives

"Afunge Airport" 

I had the opportunity to visit Fuvahmulah and the construction site chosen as Airport development on August 16, 2011. During my first visit I saw a slow pace of work but the contractor following the principles of Kaizen I had a confidence that they would be able to complete the work as per the plan. During my trip I saw the leveling of land to be used for Runway, with multiple layers. Pictures taken during my first visit.

My second visit was on September 22, 2011. During the visit I had the opportunity to visit the site again and see the progress. This time there were minor changes compared to the previous visit.

Again the Island was visited on 30 October 2011. But this time the work was almost completed on one side. Asphalt was burned on shift basis and the workers were fighting against the deadline of test flight to the on the same evening. 

Final Layer in progress and completed on one side

Terminal Building

Drainage / Rain water collection

Runway Marking in progress

Terminal Building view from Runway

Terminal Building ceiling almost complete

Runway work in progress.

Terminal Building & Fire Truck

ATC equipments arrival

Locals helping cleaning runways

Runway Markings in progress

On 31st October 2011 the maiden 'test' flight operated by Maldivian Q2 (Dash8 Q200) from Ibrahim Nasir International Airport landed Fuvahmulak Airport making history. The maiden flight was flown from Male with Senior Staffs from Maldivian, Civil Aviation and other government agencies along with Media officials. Even though the flight was able to land on the runway, the runways surface was not fully completed neither marked fully.

Citizens of whole Fuvahmulah from old, youth, young were around the airport to witness the historic flight. The locals had created an environment more like the Football match. I could the happiness on the faces of the this long waited people of Fuvhamulah. Most of the people captured the historic moment on their mobiles and cameras in the form of photos or videos. As soon as the aircraft landed / touchdown there was an electrifying noise around the runway. Within the island the hot topic was airport. Anywhere we go we hear about the excited talks, I recall one middle aged man saying that "this runway is longer then the one at Addu" the other saying this would be the most beautiful domestic terminal in the country.

After a small ceremony and interviews the flight departed from FVM (Fuvahmulah Airport) to the Gan International Airport. The journey was 10 minutes approximately. As soon as the aircraft took off from FVM I was able to see Addu Atoll. I was among the 37 passengers from who took off from FVM airport for the first time, making history. I would say myself lucky for getting the opportunity.

My boarding pass from FVM to GAN on Test Flight

• The first official scheduled flight was operated by maldivian - Q2 on 11/11/11 (11th November 2011. The aircraft operated was a dash8 Q300 with a seat capacity of 50 seats. 
• On November 16, 2011 the first Dornier D228 Aircraft landed FVM. This was a 16 seated aircraft. Registration 8Q-IAR.
• The first ATR aircraft to land FVM was Danish Air Transport ATR42-500 (Maldivian leased aircraft) baring the registration OY-RUF. 
• The first VVIP to land FVM was Sri Lankan First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa and the first lady of the Maldives Ms. Laila Ali Abdulla on 11th November 2011.

VVIP arriving FVM. Flight arrived from GAN

A single building was constructed for Departure and Arrivals including other offices and facilities. Fuvahmulak Airport has its own Air Traffic Control Tower.