Local media reported on Friday (January 2) that the Maldives government had proposed to hand over the operation of the Hanimaadhoo International Airport, opened in early November, to India.
According to the Hindu, the Civil Aviation Ministry of India asked the Airports Authority of India (AAI) this week to study the proposal submitted by the Maldives government.
But Transport Minister Mohamed Ameen refuted the reports and said all the airports in the Maldives, including international and domestic airports, will be operated by Maldivian operators licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Maldives.
“The government’s goal is to keep the operation of the airports in the hands of Maldivians in the future,” he said in a social media post.
The Hindu reported that President Mohamed Muizzu directly requested for an Indian company to operate the Hanimaadhoo airport. He made the request to Civil Aviation Union Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, who was a special envoy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the opening ceremony of the airport.
After the opening ceremony on November 10, 2025, Muizzu met with Kinjarapu in Male'.
The AAI, which has been tasked with studying the proposal of the Maldives government, oversees 113 airports in India. It operates 26 airports, while some of the airports under the agency are operated by private companies.
These include GMR, which was entrusted with the operation of the Velana International Airport (VIA) during the Nasheed administration, as well as GVK and Adani Group.
When GMR started operating the VIA, the opposition staged massive protests leading to a mutiny by the police and military which forced Nasheed's resignation in February 2012.
According to senior political figures who protested against Nasheed and is now part of the Muizzu administration, the main reason for the protests was the handover the airport to a foreign party.
The agreement with GMR was terminated in November 2012 after Nasheed's Vice President Mohamed Waheed was sworn in as the new President. Muizzu was a member of the government cabinet that made the decision to terminate the contract. As a result, the Maldives had to pay USD 270 million in compensation to GMR.
Six months ago, former President Abdulla Yameen said the Muizzu government was in talks to sell the Hanimaadhoo airport to the Adani Group.
