Its motto is En Route, which signifies its importance as a strategic staging post for enabling RAF aircraft to reach their onward destinations at their bases in the Far East.

The area was originally established as a military base for the Royal Navy (RN) in 1941; 84 years ago (1941).

Royal Navy engineers began constructing airstrips on Gan island from crushed coral in August 1941 for the Fleet Air Arm (FAA).

[1] During the Second World War, in 1942, the Royal Air Force (RAF) had its bases in the islands of Addu Atoll, Maldives.

It was extensively used as a staging post by bombers, fighters, and transports, on their way to Singapore and other destinations in east Asia during the late 1950s and the 1960s.

In 1977 the Soviet Union requested use of the Gan airbase, but this was denied by President Ibrahim Nasir, who wanted the Maldives to remain neutral.