Aerospace Diary

Low-Cost carriers Aviation Daily Feb 21 , 2011 , p. 17 Neelam Mathews Kingfisher Airlines will start two flights a week March 17 from Delhi and Mumbai to Gan International Airport in the Maldives, 900 km southwest of India. Maldives comprises 1,190 islands, of which 97 are resorts. Air India operates one daily flight from Thiruvananthapuram and five weeklies from Bengaluru. While SriLankan Airlines connects many cities via Colombo to Male in Maldives, there is no other direct service by any Indian carrier. Earlier this month, GMR Infrastructure, which manages Male International Airport , chartered a Kingfisher Airlines flight to fly back Maldivian nationals caught in the Egyptian uprising via Mumbai to Male. The civil unrest Egypt has resulted in tourists heading from the Egyptian resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh to the Maldives, says Abdul Azeez Yoosuf, high commissioner of Maldives to India. Airlines such as Emi...

Airports Aviation Daily Jun 29 , 2010 , p. 14 Neelam Mathews GMR Infrastructure Ltd. is increasing its foray into international airport development with a contract to build, operate, modernize and expand Male International Airport (MIA) in Maldives. GMR, which along with consortium partners won the bid to develop Istanbul, Turkey’s Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, opened the airport last year, one year ahead of schedule. The new international terminal, which is designed to handle 20 million passengers, was built for $606 million with a 20-year concession period. The term of the Male Airport contract is for 25 years. MIA, a gateway to resort islands, also includes a seaplane port. Situated on Huhule Island on the southwestern tip of India, Male Airport is the largest airport in the capital of Maldives. With its tourism potential and exponential growth in passenger movement, it is the base for tourist traffic from Europe in the entire region.