The subsidiary airline of Villa Group, Flyme, are to commence new flight operations between Maamigili, Maldives, and India. As Flyme gained permission for international flights on 3rd September 2020, this is to be a new addition to their growing list of international flight schedules.
Flyme aims to contribute to the current recovery of the tourism sector of the Maldives by starting scheduled flights to 4 destinations in India namely Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Bangalore by the start of next year.
The Managing Director of Flyme, Abdulla Nashid stated during an interview with local media that India is one of the major tourist markets of the Maldives. Due to the travel industry being greatly impacted by the global pandemic, the tourism ministry and the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations, has initiated numerous marketing campaigns targeted at India that already show signs of success, as numbers for tourist arrivals to the Maldives have surged, after borders re-opened for tourists on 15 July 2020.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Flyme halted previous domestic flights, but now resumed operations on 1 October. In addition, the airline plan to prepare flight routes to the Colombo International Airport Ratmanala, once Sri Lanka re-opens borders.
