Airbus A380 takes test flight on China built runway in Maldives

Wang Longyin China Plus Published: 2018-09-19 17:24:45
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An Airbus A380 jumbo jet took its first test flight on the Velana International Airport's new runway in Maldives. This marks the new China-built runway has completed and can be put into operation.

An Airbus A380 jetliner takes the first trial flight on the new runway built by China's Beijing Urban Construction Group at the Velana International Airport in Hulhule Island, Maldives, 18 September 2018.[Photo: IC]

An Airbus A380 jetliner takes the first trial flight on the new runway built by China's Beijing Urban Construction Group at the Velana International Airport in Hulhule Island, Maldives, 18 September 2018.[Photo: IC]

The 3,400-meter-long, 60-meter-wide runway will open the airport to the Airbus A380 jetliner, the world's largest passenger airline. The US $400 million project was awarded to China's Beijing Urban Construction Group as part of ambitious plans to upgrade the main international airport in the Maldives. Thanks to the project, Airbus A380 can now land in the island country.

As the world's most advanced large-scale, long-range wide-body passenger aircraft, A380 requires state-of-the-art airport runways. It is even more difficult to build a 4F runway on land reclaimed from the sea, allowing super-large aircraft like the A380 to take off and land. In 10 months, about 750,000 square meters of land has been filled in the waters around the Maldives Airport Island. This has not only filled the technical gap of overseas reclamation for airports by Chinese enterprises, but also set the record of overseas coral sand reclamation by Chinese enterprises.

A view of the new runway built by China's Beijing Urban Construction Group at the Velana International Airport in Hulhule Island, Maldives, September 18.[Photo: IC]

A view of the new runway built by China's Beijing Urban Construction Group at the Velana International Airport in Hulhule Island, Maldives, September 18.[Photo: IC]

President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom of the Republic of Maldives attended the opening ceremony for the new runway. He thanked the Beijing Urban Construction Group for their contribution and devotion. The president said that as the leading project under the "Belt and Road" Initiative, locals are expecting a full operation of the airport. He pointed that the completion of the new runway could bring more tourists to Maldives and boost local tourism.

An aerial view of the new runway built by China's Beijing Urban Construction Group at the Velana International Airport in Hulhule Island, Maldives, September 18.[Photo: IC]

An aerial view of the new runway built by China's Beijing Urban Construction Group at the Velana International Airport in Hulhule Island, Maldives, September 18.[Photo: IC]

The full renovation of the Velana International Airport is expected to be completed in November. Maldivian Minister of Economic Development Mohamed Saeed explained that the new runway could save the landing time from the previous 15 minutes to around 2-3 minutes, greatly improving the efficiency. It is estimated that the number of tourists will increase to 7.5 million. And the airport could create 9,000 new jobs directly and promote 7,500 tourism-related jobs. In the future, it is expected to create another 3,000 new jobs.

China's Beijing Urban Construction Group will also build a fuel farm with a storage capacity of 45 million litres and a cargo complex with the capacity to handle 120,000 tons in Maldives.

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