National flag-carrier, Maldivian celebrates 13 years of operation to Trivandrum, India.
The airline commenced its first international operations on January 25, 2008 with the first flight to Trivandrum. India has since been a dear destination to the Maldives, further strengthening the long-standing partnership between the two countries.
On the special ocassion, Maldivian tweeted, ” Today marks 13 years of our Trivandrum operations. It took years of hard work, our loyal customers & partners, a dedicated and proactive team at home and at Trivandrum to reach this success of 13 wonderful years. A big thank you to each and all from all of us!”
According to latest reports, Maldivian currently operates two weekly flights to Trivandrum. As the country ceased air travel and closed borders on July 15, 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic, all fleets of Maldivian touched down at Velana International Airport (VIA). However, shortly after, the airline commenced a special charter service, operating cargo flights to various destinations including Trivandrum and Chenna of India, Thailand and Dubai.
With this service, Maldivian played a key role in the COVID-19 response by transporting essential supplies, medical samples and personnel. In August 2020, India together with the Maldivian government established the “Travel Bubble” in order to provide more convenient travel options to visitors. Maldives became the first among South Asian countries to form the special air transportation deal with India.
Maldivian resumed passenger operations to Trivandrum on September 10, following the reopening of Maldives borders in July. Year-end statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism showed that India was the top market to Maldives in the year 2020. At the end of December, India took over as the top market with almost 63,000 tourist arrivals.
Photo Credit: Maldivian
