DTIS, Volume I - Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF)

Charter flights also oscillated significantly during the period, showing an average growth
over the period of 2.0 per cent. Following a downturn in 1988, other flights increased
exponentially, with an average growth rate over the period of 10.7 per cent.
A. AIR TRANSPORT PASSENGER ACTIVITY
Passenger activity at MIA can be analysed in terms of three parameters as shown in Table
6.3. The number of transit passengers constitutes about only 10 per cent of total
passenger movements, which therefore follows the trend of arriving and departing
passengers. Steady growth has been experienced. For the whole period it was an average
of 9.1 per cent per year. The number of arriving/departing passengers increased steadily
over the period, average annual growth being 9.7 per cent per year. In-transit passenger
numbers decreased dramatically during 2000 after having been static during the period
1996 through 1999. A rapid recovery followed, with slower growth of 9.5 per cent per
year during the period 2003 through 2004. The whole-period average growth was a
modest 3.8 per cent per year.
Table 6.3: Air Passenger Activity (no of passengers)
Year 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Arrivals 400,300 447,823 468,766 505,919 548,518 538,576 557,459 636,377 711,322
Departures 403,645 443,311 460,119 513,010 535,658 533,985 552,311 635,150 721,645
In-transit 110,176 103,594 114,825 111,658 40,533 77,689 157,274 120,884 143,746
All 914,121 994,728 1,043,710 1,130,587 1,124,709 1,150,250 1,267,044 1,392,411 1,576,713
Source: Maldives Airport Company
B. AIR FREIGHT ACTIVITY
Transit airfreight is approximately 15 per cent of the total, so the overall trend is
dominated by the oscillatory inbound, and to a lesser extent, outbound trends. Volumes of
air cargo are small and calculated at 34 tonnes in 2004. Whole-period growth between
1996 and 2004 was 4.7 per cent per year. Inbound airfreight exhibited the same
oscillatory pattern, as did flights. The good growth of 13.2 per cent a year during the
period 1996 to 1999 was followed by a 7.6 per cent per year slump during the period
1999 through 2002, and by an accelerating recovery of 11.2 per cent per year during the
period 2002 to 2004. Outbound airfreight fell off dramatically (at 16.2 per cent a year)
during the period 1997 to 2001, but recovered strongly (40.0 per cent a year) to 2004, to
end the period marginally (0.9 per cent a year) higher than at the start.
C. MALDIVES AIRPORT COMPANY (MAC)
MAC is a state-owned entity with airport authority functions. As noted above, MAC
operates the MIA but its mandate with respect to domestic or regional airports is not
clear. Formally, the jurisdiction of MAC includes the four main regional airports. It is not
so much the extent of that mandate that is questionable, but the extent to which MAC
chooses to exercise it. The preferred option of MAC seems to be to concentrate its
activity on MIA and associated commercial ventures, which are commercially profitable.
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