Male International Airport (6 Feet Above Mean Sea Level), Maldives

Male International Airport (IATA: MLE, ICAO: VRMM) is the main international airport in the Maldives. It is located on Hulhule Island in the North Male Atoll, near the capital island Male. Male airport is the main gateway into the Maldives islands for tourists. It is currently the only airport in the country offering international flights.

Malé International Airportalso known as Velana International Airport, previously known as Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, is the main international airport in the Maldives. It is located on Hulhulé Island in the North Malé Atoll, nearby the capital island Malé. Today, the airport is well connected with major airports around the world, mostly serving as the main gateway into the Maldives for tourists. It is managed financially and administratively by an independent corporate entity known as Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL).

The airport first started out as a small strip of land on the then inhabited island of Hulhulé. Hulhulé  Airport was opened on 19 October 1960. The first runway built on Hulhulé Island was made of slotted  steel sheets. The dimensions of this runway were 75 ft × 3,000 ft (23 m × 914 m). The first aircraft which  landed at the airport was a Royal New Zealand Air Force Transport plane on 19 October 1960 at 13:55hrs. The  first commercial flight was an Air Ceylon flight (4R0ACJ) landed on this runway was at 15:50hrs on 10  April 1962. The first aircraft owned by the Maldives landed on the runway of the Hulhulé Airport on 9  October 1974. In May 1964 the government and the people of Malé worked together to construct a new asphalt runway. The four districts of Malé competed for the prize money of 1,000 rufiyaa, awarded to  the fastest district. On the first day 108 volunteers were enlisted for the project and 1,563.08 rufiya was  donated. The new runway was opened on 12 April 1966 at 16:00 by President Ibrahim  Nasir.

When the tourism boom in the Maldives began in 1972, the country was in need of an international standard airport to transport international tourists to the resort islands. So, on 11 November 1981, the airport was officially inaugurated under a new name of "Malé International Airport".

Maldives Airports Company Ltd (MACL) was formed on 1 January 1994 to operate and manage the Male' International Airport. MACL is governed by the board of directors appointed by the President of the Maldives.

The airport resides at an elevation of 6 feet (2 m) above mean sea level. It has one asphalt runway designated 18/36 measuring 45 m × 3,200 m (148 ft × 10,499 ft).  The adjacent waterdrome which serves the large seaplane operations at INIA, has 4 water runways, designated NR/SL, NC/SC, NL/SR and E/W, measuring 60 m × 1,190 m (200 ft × 3,900 ft), 60 m × 1,100 m (200 ft × 3,610 ft), 60 m × 1,000 m (200 ft × 3,280 ft) and 60 m × 800 m (200 ft × 2,620 ft) respectively. Runway NL is takeoff only and runway SR is landing only due to proximity with flying restricted areas.

The airport has 3 terminals. They are the International Terminal, the Domestic Terminal and the waterdrome Seaplane Terminal. The airport includes the corporate headquarters of Trans Maldivian Airways.