The main gateway into the Maldives, Velana International Airport (VIA) has handled over four million passengers in the first six months of the year, the airport operator, Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) has revealed.
According to MACL statistics, 4,108,845 passengers traveled through VIA in the first six months of this year, marking a four percent passenger traffic increase compared to the same period last year.
Of the 4.1 million passengers, 2,669,969 were international passengers while 579,079 travelled domestically and the remaining 859,797 passengers flew by seaplane, the statistics showed.
The most passenger traffic on a single day was recorded on 4 January with 26,658 passengers handled by VIA on the day. A total of 7,439 passengers travelled by seaplane on 16 February, the most seaplane passenger traffic on record so far this year.
In line with the surge in passenger traffic, air traffic movements also increased by seven percent in the first six months of this year compared to the same period last year. Air traffic movements in the first six months of this year stood at 124,665 with 17,614 international flights, 14,100 domestic flights along with 92,941 seaplane movements.
The statistics also showed that during the first six months of this year, 34,000 tonnes of cargo was cleared by VIA - a six percent increase compared to the same period last year.
Now fully functional, VIA’s recently unveiled new international passenger terminal, capable of handling seven million passengers annually, is expected to improve international connectivity and accommodate higher volumes of inbound traffic.