The national airline, Maldivian's new ATR aircraft, made its maiden flight to Gan International Airport in Addu City on Saturday evening.
The recently acquired ATR 72-600 aircraft landed at Gan International Airport at around 5:45 p.m. on Saturday. Maldivian launched its new ATR flight operations with new in-flight services, which include additional food options during the trip.
The ATR-72 aircraft has a capacity of carrying 70 passengers, and they are equipped with the latest turboprop engines. Maldivian reports the new ATR planes require 20 percent less maintenance cost compared to the models it previously used, while fuel usage is three percent less than that of the Twin-Otters seaplanes.
Maldivian has the Dash8 aircrafts on its fleet for nearly 20 years. Most of these planes require excessive maintenance due to their age. The airline was facing scheduling difficulties due to plane delays, which were caused by flights being grounded for maintenance.
The airline said its new ATR model will reduce interruptions to its daily flight operations. Maldivian had earlier acquired two ATR 72-600s which landed in Velana International Airport in early January 2023. A third and final ATR is set to arrive late this month, which will expand the airline's fleet to 14 planes.
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