Dubai-based budget airline flydubai has announced the restart of their operations to Maldives after a two-year halt.
The low-cost carrier owned by the Dubai government first operated the Dubai-Malé route between 2013 and 2018.
Yesterday, the airline announced reinstating the service on 27th of October 2020, due to popular demand. According to the airline's website, flydubai will fly to and from Malé four times a week; on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO at flydubai said signs of recovery are being seen as more countries lift restrictions on international travels.
"Working together, all the stakeholders in the travel industry have a role to play to safeguard travel in this new environment enabling more people to travel confidently. We remain agile in our operations and committed to gradually adding more flights to further support the flow of trade and tourism around the region as we look ahead to this new way of travel in the months to come," said flydubai's CEO.
The airline says the operations to Malé will give passengers more access to a holiday destination via Dubai, whether connecting on the flydubai network or through its codeshare with Emirates.
flydubai's Business Class and Economy Class return fares to Malé start at USD 2429.93 and USD 986.95 respectively.
Meanwhile, flydubai's travel wing "Holidays by flydubai" is offering Maldives holiday packages including return flights, speedboat transfers, and accommodation in four-star properties on a half-board basis starting at USD 991.30.
flydubai's Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations Sudhir Sreedharan said Maldives has always been a popular beach holiday destination for flydubai passengers in UAE, GCC area, and Russian speaking markets.
"With Holidays by flydubai expanding its hotels and ancillary offering, we are now able to offer our passengers full packages at affordable prices whether they choose to fly in Business or Economy," he said.
flydubai recently introduced a free global cover package for COVID-19 for passengers booking with the airline for travel between 1st September and 30th November 2020. Under the coverage, passenger's health and quarantine expenses will be covered if diagnosed with COVID-19 during their trip.
On the other hand, Maldives now requires travelers to present a negative COVID-19 test not more than 72 hours prior to entering the country and to fill an online health declaration form before embarking from the airport of origin and arrival in the Maldives.
Currently, Qatar Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Aeroflot, Turkish Airways, SriLankan Airlines, Air India and Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo are operating scheduled flights to the Maldives, with Swiss leisure airline Edelweiss to restart their Maldives service next weekend.
This month Maldives was certified as a safe destination with World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC)'s Safe Travels stamp, recognizing its efforts in implementing enhanced health and safety measures in midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
