While the Maldives is known for being a luxury vacation destination, the fun doesn’t really start until you get to your resort, as Velana International Airport (MLE) has historically been a bit of a mess.
The primary terminal was designed to accommodate just one million passengers per year, while current passenger numbers are way more than that (between departures and arrivals, the airport currently sees roughly four million international travelers per year).
Fortunately that’s changing, as an impressive new terminal has been under construction for some time. There’s an exciting update — this terminal has just opened to its first passengers, but it’ll be some time before it’s fully operational.
In this post:
Details of Velana International Airport’s new terminal
Malé Airport now has a new passenger terminal, which will eventually fully replace the existing terminal. The new terminal is expected to have the capacity to handle over seven million passengers per year, representing a massive expansion over the existing facility. The terminal is 78,000 square meters (around 840,000 square feet), located to the south of the existing facility.
It’s not just the increased capacity that’s exciting, but also the passenger experience. The old terminal almost feels like a bus depot, and by comparison, the new terminal should be much more competitive. The new terminal has actual contact gates (rather than exclusively using remote stands), more immigration counters, an updated baggage system, and more.
The new terminal is also expected to feature new lounges. I haven’t actually seen details on what those new lounges will look like, so does anyone happen to know which companies have been contracted for that?
It would be awesome if there were multiple lounges, and maybe even some airline-run ones (like for Emirates), but I’m not holding my breath. Going back a couple of years, Beond Airlines executives claimed the airline would have a dedicated lounge in the new terminal, so let’s see if that ends up being the case.
The Maldives’ new terminal has started to open
Construction on the new terminal at Malé Airport started all the way back in 2016, so the airport has been under construction for nearly a decade now. What’s so funny is that every time I traveled through the Maldives, word on the street seemed to be that the new terminal would be opening imminently, the same year.
When I visited the Maldives in early 2022, those working at the airport were all telling me the new terminal would open later in the year. When I visited the Maldives in the middle of 2024 (well, just to fly Beond Airlines), the common wisdom seemed to be that the terminal would be opening the same year.
Well, there’s finally a great update — the new terminal had its soft opening on Saturday, July 26, 2025, so it’s now operational… sort of. It sure seems like the terminal was rushed to be opened, as this date coincided with Maldives Independence Day, and specifically, the 60th anniversary celebration.
This is a phased opening, so effective immediately, we’re just seeing a small number of airlines move to the new terminal, representing approximately 12% of all passenger departures. This includes flights on Air Arabia, Bangkok Airways, Batik Air, Beond Airlines, Maldivian, Oman Air, and Xiamen Air, along with a few others.
The plan is for all existing operations to move to the new terminal within three months, which would be by October 26, 2025 (also the start of the IATA winter travel season, which is peak season in the Maldives).
It’s not entirely clear to me how complete the new terminal is yet. It seems lounges aren’t yet operational, but I’m not sure if the entire terminal is open, or if much of it is still blocked off.
Bottom line
A game changing new terminal has just opened at Malé Velana International Airport (MLE). This will massively expand the airport’s capacity, while also offering an improved passenger experience, with better lounges, contact gates, etc.
While the new terminal has now welcomed its first passengers, not all airlines are moving at once. Instead, it’s expected to take until late October 2025 before all airlines move to the new terminal. I look forward to checking out this facility at some point, as there still aren’t that many details out there about it.
What do you make of Malé Airport’s new terminal?
Ben - are you aware of the new LIM airport? Used it several times last month and it's quite an upgrade from the old one. Still some finishing work being done but overall impressive. Most frustrating are the access roads to the new terminal which are not yet finished so traffic can be a mess
This is great news! Despite the aspirational nature of the destination, the airport experience has been decidedly suboptimal, even for premium carriers both on arrival and departure. In the existing system. once you clear the customs/immigration to make sure you don't have any hidden hootch, the experience improves markedly with the various resort lounges. This goes in reverse upon departure.
As someone who worked on the construction of this terminal in 2018 I am so happy that it is now complete and something for the Maldivian people to be proud of, it looks magnificent.
I do love the old terminal though and will miss it, I especially enjoyed the deplaning direct to the apron and walking to the terminal, very reminiscent of my early days of travel.
flying in on Qatar in just over 3 weeks and then on to domestic terminal for connection to Maamigili..
and sadly QR not on the initial list, surpise as they have 3, sometimes 4, flights daily...
can update you with my experience in and out early September...
On one hand, there's worry Maldives could disappear by 2100 due to the rising ocean levels. On the other hand, it seems many islands have stabilized, or even expanded back. Enjoy while it lasts?
Odd that Oman Air is listed as they are not flying there currently and announced a resumption of service in October has been scrapped.
The new terminal looks promising! I'm looking forward to it being fully open for my next vacation in March 2026. But to be honest, I don't need airline-owned lounges. I'll be happy if the new lounges offer enough showers. I always „enjoyed“ climbing into the extremely overheated seaplane and then boarding an 11-hour long-haul flight to Europe completely sweaty and sticky.
Stay with FS Landaa. They have a shower in seaplane lounge!