A Timeline of Aviation

Gan International Airport
1950s - Present
Originally built by the British as a staging post for its RAF base during 1950s and was handed over to the Maldivian Government in 1976 with almost an equivalent of an ICAO code 4D air strip comprising of then state of the art equipment and facilities.

Air Maldives
1974-2000
This was the first national airline of the Maldives. The airline had a fleet of Airbus A300, A310, Dash8s, Do228 etc and flown to France, Germany, India Japan and etc

Maldives Airways
1984-1986
offering scheduled passenger flights using a fleet of two Douglas DC-8 aircraft.There was at least one regular flight between Malé and Dubai (UAE) during the two years the airline operated. also operated to gan before bankruptcy

Humming Bird Airways
1989-2000
airline was established in 1993 by Danish investors and started operations in the same year as the first airline to use DHC6 Twin Otter seaplanes in the Maldives

Maldivian
2000 - Present
Maldivian is presently the national airline of the Maldives with a fleet of DHC6 Twin Otters, Dash8s and Airbus operating domestically and internationally.

Villa Airport
2011-Present
Villa Airport Maamigili opened to flights in 2011 as the first privately built airport in the Maldives and is the maintenance base for Flyme.

Maldives Civil Aviation Authority
2012-Present
Maldives Civil Aviation Authority was formed as an independent authority by the Parliament under Act 2/2012 and all the functions of CAD were transfered to the Authority.

Manta Air
2019-Present
The airline commenced operation with 3 ATR 72-600 aircraft and soon started seaplane operation with 6 DHC6 Twin Otters mainly operating to base Dhaalu Airport and Dharavandhoo Airport.

Velana International Airport
1969 - Present
A small strip of land on the then inhabited island of Hulhulé that today is the main hub of all internatinoal arrivals to the maldives. Today the airport is under construction to handle a capacity of 7.3 million passengers per year.

Civil Aviation Authority
1982
The Department of Civil Aviation was established on 10 November 1982. This department functioned under the President's Office. Civil Aviation functions till then were undertaken by the Civil Aviation Section of the Ministry of Transport.

Kahdhoo Airport
1986 - Present
Excavation for the runway began on1982, and the final layer of the runway was completed on 6 April 1986. The project was implemented totally using local expertise, and though it was initiated under the Government’s budget alone, additional financial assistance was received

Maldivian Air Taxi
1993-2013
airline was established in 1993 by Danish investors and started operations in the same year as the first airline to use DHC6 Twin Otter seaplanes in the Maldives

Trans Maldivian Airways
2000-Present
In 2000 Hummingbird Island was rebranded as Trans Maldivian Airways. Later TMA acquired a fleet of 16 Twin Otter seaplane, the airline operated ATR 42 for a small period in 2007-09. TMA merged with MAT in 2013 and became the largest seaplane operator in the world.

Mega Maldives
2010-2017
The airline operated with 4 Boeing 767-300, 1 757-200 and 1 737-800. The airline operated scheduled and charter operations to China, Malayshia, UAE, Bangladesh, India and more
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Fly Me
2011-Present
The airline launched oeprations with ATR42-500 with later aqquireing ATR72-5/600 operating primiarily between Maamigili airport and Dharavandhoo Airport. In 2014 the airline aqquired a C208 seaplane which is now retried from the fleet.
