Gan International Airport (GIA) is an international airport located on the island of Gan in Addu Atoll (previously known as Seenu Atoll) in the island nation of the

Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

. As of June 2019, it is one of three international airports in the Maldives.

History

First built by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

(RN) for its Fleet Air Arm (FAA), it was subsequently transferred to the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

(RAF), becoming Royal Air Force Station Gan, commonly known merely as RAF Gan. It was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

military airbase, used as a staging post for RAF aircraft transiting to the

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during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, until 1976. The first aircraft, an RAF Westland Walrus biplane landed on the crushed

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

runway of Gan on 8 February 1943. In 1976, the RAF left Gan, having no further need for its facilities, and handed it back to the Maldives government. After a period of abandonment, the island and airfield was left to fall into disrepair for many years. Funding was subsequently found to develop the island, and it then became a civilian domestic airport.

Current use

Gan Airport (in its civilian incarnation) was originally run by the Government of Maldives (GoM), with technical assistance from Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) until January 2010. In June 2009, a

public enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

by the name of Gan Airport Company Limited (GACL) was established by H.E. President Mohamed Nasheed as part of GoM's privatisation policy. GACL took over management of Gan Airport in January 2010. To promote

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

and other economic activity in the south

, a new venture was formed early in 2012 to further develop and expand Gan Airport to international airport standard. A

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

was formed between GACL, MACL, and State Trading Organization Plc (STO). Renaming to Gan International Airport (GIA), the new venture is Addu International Airport Private Limited (AIA), which now owns and manages Gan International Airport. , 70% of AIA is held by the government of Maldives, and 30% by KASA Holdings Private Limited.

Facilities

Gan International Airport is capable of accommodating ICAO code 4E aircraft. The airport lies at an elevation of above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

. It has one paved

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

designated 10/28, with a concrete surface, previously measuring in 2010. As a result of the National Development Plan of the early 1980s, Gan runway was subsequently upgraded and extended in length by to a total .

Airlines and destinations

, the following airlines offer regularly scheduled services:

Statistics

, the only foreign operator to Gan is SriLankan Airlines, using

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...

aircraft.

Incidents and accidents

*On 12 March 2019, a Maldivian

Bombardier Dash 8 Q300 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier Aerospace, Bombard ...

suffered a landing gear malfunction, due to which the plane circled around the airport for one hour. The aircraft landed safely, but the landing gear was not fully retracted. This was the first incident to occur in Gan International Airport.

References

External links

Gan International Airport (GIA)
* ttp://www.aaa-fta.com Asian Academy of Aeronautics (AAA)— flying training school based at Gan International Airport * *
Aerial photograph of Gan airport aircraft parking apron and terminal
{{Authority control Airports in the Maldives Addu Atoll