Malé International Airport renamed Ibrahim Nasir International Airport

The Maldives’ Male’ airport has been renamed as Ibrahim Nasir International Airport.

Ibrahim Nasir International Airport is the primary international airport of the Republic of Maldives situated in Hulhule Atoll: amongst other coral islands that form the archipelago of the Maldives. Named after Ibrahim Nasir, the second President of the Republic of Maldives, it is unique of its kind as it also includes a sea plane port.

With the commencement of building, operating, modernising and expanding the airport by a bid won by GMR Infrastructure, Male’s Ibrahim Nasir International Airport is said to increase from the current 2.6million passengers per annum capacity to 5.2million passengers per annum.

The second President of the Maldives in his tenure between the years of 1968-1978 directed the building of the first international airport in the Maldives (Malé International Airport). He is widely credited with modernising the long-isolated and nearly unknown Maldives and opening them up to the rest of the world. He laid the foundations of the nation by modernizing the fisheries industry with mechanized vessels and starting the tourism industry. Even today the nation is dependent on these two industries as a primary source of income and the main driver of the economy. Under his watch, the national shipping line with more than 40 ships that were plying the oceans of the world remained a source of national pride for Maldivians. It was a remarkable success story among the maritime nations of South Asia. Nasir is considered as the independence hero of the Maldives. He brought about the independence of the Maldives from being a protectorate of the British Empire. Hence his reflection now lies in the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport.

On the occasion of the 46th independence celebrations the airport was renamed as Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, in honour of a visionary that did wonders to the island nation.

As part of the success story of growing tourism and business development in the Maldives, GMR has the mandate to redevelop the existing terminal and build a brand new terminal ready for opening in Summer 2014 to meet the growing number of passengers visiting and living in the Maldives.