Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) has appealed all passengers to arrive at Velana International Airport three hours prior to their flight time.

In a tweet on Sunday, MACL noted that the time period was rather hectic for departures at the VIA. Hence they appealed all passengers to arrive at the airport three hours prior to flight time to ensure a smooth operation of the airport.

MACL had broken their record for highest runway movements in a single day twice in December of 2019. As per MACL, the flight movement on 01 December was recorded at 226 which was broken by 239 total flight movements on December 22nd. A total of 101 International flights, 121 domestic flights and AD-Hoc 17 movements were recorded on the day.

While a USD 800 million mega project is underway to further develop the airport, a new runway, passenger terminal and a fuel farm alongside a new seaplane terminal is to be built under this project.

Even though the new runway is now complete, it is yet to welcome operations. The new passenger terminal is being developed to serve a total of 7 million passengers annually - while the current terminal capacity is serving a total of 1.5 million tourists per year.