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Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, also known as Malé International Airport, previously known as Hulhulé Airport, is the main international airport in the Maldives. It is located on Hulhulé Island in the North Malé Atoll, nearby the capital island Malé.

Today, Ibrahim Nasir International is well connected with major airports around the world, mostly serving as the main gateway into the Maldives for tourists. Moreover, despite the upgrading of Gan Airport to international standard, Ibrahim Nasir International is currently the only internationally active airport in the country.

It is managed financially and administratively by an independent corporate entity known as Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL). On 26 July 2011, Male' International Airport was officially renamed as the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport in memory of Ibrahim Nasir, the 2nd President of the Maldives and the founder of the airport.

Hulhulé Airport
The airport first started out as a small strip of land in the then inhabited island of Hulhulé. Hulhulé Airport was opened on 19 October 1960. The first runway built on Hulhulé Island was made of slotted steel sheets. The dimensions of this runway were 75 x 3000ft. The first aircraft which landed at the airport was a Royal New Zealand Air Force Transport plane on 19 October 1960 at 13:55hrs. The first commercial flight was an Air Ceylon flight (4R0ACJ) landed on this runway was at 15:50hrs on 10 April 1962. The first aircraft owned by the Maldives landed on the runway of the Hulhulé Airport on 9 October 1974.

In May 1964 the government and the people of Malé worked together to construct a new asphalt runway. The four districts of Malé competed for the prize money of 1,000 rufiyaa, awarded to the fastest district. On the first day 108 volunteers were enlisted for the project and 1,563.08 rufiya was donated. The new runway was opened on 12 April 1966 at 16:00 by President Ibrahim Nasir.

Upgrade to Malé International Airport
When the tourism boom in the Maldives began in 1972, the country was in need of an international standard airport to transport international tourists to the resort islands. So, on 11 November 1981, the airport was officially inaugurated under a new name of "Malé International Airport".

Maldives Airports Company Ltd (MACL) was formed on 1 January 1994 to operate and manage the Male' International Airport. MACL is governed by the board of directors appointed by the President of the Maldives.

Privatisation of the airport
In 2010, the Nasheed administration appointed IFC to run a bidding process for the privatisation of the airport. The bid was won by a consortium between GMR Group and Malaysia Airports who provided Rufiyaa 1 Billion as upfront fee to the government for the expansion and modernisation of the airport by 2014, and it's operation for 25 years.

By the end of the year, MACL officially handed over the aerodrome license of the airport to the newly formed GMR Malé International Airport Ltd (GMIAL). GMIAL announced that the development plans included reclaiming more land at the eastern end of the runway; where a new terminal is to be built. This terminal would consist of 3 separate bridged buildings. Plans for a separate cargo terminal was also announced. However, the project faced numerous delays.

Termination of contract
In late 2012, the new government of Maldives under the Waheed administration declared that the concession agreement was void ab initio and on 27 November 2012 gave GMIAL a deadline of 7 days to 'evict the airport', a decision which drew mass protests from the government's opposition, as well as criticism from the government and media of India. The strained relations led to India freezing aid to the Maldives over the row. On 7 December, GMR handed over the airport to the government, and MACL was reinstated as the operator.

Operational facilities
INIA resides at an elevation of 6 ft above mean sea level. It has one asphalt runway designated 18/36 measuring 3200m x 45m. The adjacent waterdrome which serves the large seaplane operations at INIA, has 4 water runways, designated NR/SL, NC/SC, NL/SR and E/W, measuring 1190m x 60m, 1100m x 60m, 1000m x 60m and 800m x 60m respectively. Runway NL is takeoff only and runway SR is landing only due to proximities with flying restricted areas.

INIA has 3 terminals. They are the International Terminal, the Domestic Terminal and the waterdrome Seaplane Terminal.

International terminal
Destinations in italics are seasonal.

1 Some of these flights make an intermediate stop in Colombo, but Turkish Airlines does not have traffic rights solely between Male and Colombo.

Statistics
As of March 2013, SriLankan Airlines is the largest foreign carrier into Maldives with 32 flights a week. Bandaranaike International Airport is the most common direct stop out of the Maldives as it is served by SriLankan Airlines, British Airways, China Eastern Airlines, Emirates and Korean Air who operate a combined total of up to 10 flights daily between Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Incidents and accidents

 * On 18 October 1995 an Air Maldives Dornier 228 abruptly turned right, left the runway, struck the seawall and somersaulted into the adjacent lagoon while landing. The plane was written off.


 * On 15 August 1996 a Hummingbird Helicopters MIL Mi-8P lost control after takeoff due to the non-availability of hydraulic pressure. Only 4 people received minor injuries.


 * On 17 May 2004, a Trans Maldivian Airways, de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 300 collided with the sea-wall of runway 18 after experiencing problems taking off from the seaplane base. Both pilots and one passenger were seriously injured in the accident. The aircraft was written off.