The first runway built on Hulhulé Island was made of slotted steel sheets. This runway was built on a strip of cleared ground in the middle of a small island called Hulhulé, which was an inhabited island then and was opened on 19th October 1960. The dimension of this runway was 75 x 3000 feet. The first aircraft, which landed on this runway, was a Royal New Zealand Air Force Transport plane on 19th of October 1960 at 13:55hrs. The first Air Ceylon flight landed on this runway was at 15:50hrs on 10th April 1962. The registration number of the Air Ceylon flight is 4R-ACJ. The first aircraft owned by the Maldives landed on the runway of the Hulhulé Airport on 9th October 1974.

A team effort
In May 1964 the people of Mále mobilised to construct a new asphalt runway. The work was carried out in a competitive atmosphere with the competition between the four districts of Mále.

]The announcement of the replacement of the slotted steel sheet runway by an asphalt runway was issued by Vuzaarathul Dhaakhiliyya (Ministry of Home Affairs).

On the first day itself 108 volunteers were enlisted for the project and 1563.08 Maldivian Rufiya were donated. The government received whole hearted support from the Maldivian people – both financially and material wise. Removal of the slotted steel sheets, which the British had laid out as a runway, was started at 6.00am of the first day of May 1964.

The work was carried out in a competitive atmosphere between the four districts of Malé. The 1st square was dug out by Henveiru district in 26 minutes. They won the winning prize of 1000/- Rufiya awarded by the government.

The asphalt runway constructed by the hard work of Maldivians was opened on 12th April 1966 at 16:00hrs by the former Prime Minister His Excellency Mr. Ibrahim Nasir.