Chinese airlines to begin operations this month

After a three-year hiatus following the global pandemic Covid-19, Chinese airlines have scheduled to commence flights to Maldives this month.

According to Velana International Airport’s (VIA) operator Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) on January 18, the first airline from China - Beijing Capital Airlines is scheduled to fly to Maldives.

Beijing Capital Airlines has scheduled flights to Maldives from then till February 22, with four flights coming in per week.

In addition to this, China Eastern is also set to kick off flights on January 28. Its flights have been scheduled till March 25. The airline will be making use of Airbus A330-200 flights that can accommodate 232 people for these.

MACL also noted that Hong Kong airlines will also start sometime this month, and has scheduled flights till March 23. These flights will be made using Airbus A330-3000s as per MACL.

Prior to closing the border at the beginning of the pandemic, China was leading the list of countries with the highest number of tourists coming to Maldives. By the end of 2019, a total of 284,029 tourists visited Maldives from China - the highest number of tourists recorded from any single country that year.