Second wide-body aircraft will be operational in October: President

The second wide-body aircraft of Maldives' national airline Maldivian Airlines will arrive and become operational in October this year, said President Dr Mohamed Muizzu.

Speaking at the ceremony to mark the arrival of the Airbus A330, Maldivian's first wide-body aircraft, the President said this was an important start in the expansion of Maldivian's services. While the airline's first wide-body aircraft was brought and operationalised yesterday, the aircraft is planned to fly to China and many other global destinations, he said.

The first wide-body aircraft to be added to the national airline's fleet will start flying to three destinations in China by the end of this month. They are Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. Once the airline's second long-range A330 aircraft arrives, the airline also plans to fly to Europe.

President Muizzu said the services of Maldivian Airlines will be expanded to facilitate the arrival of more tourists to the Maldives.

"When the collaborative work of all the people from the Ministry of Finance, Island Aviation and the Ministry of Transport conclude, [the second aircraft] will be ready to fly by October. The flights starting today will be to parts of China. In the future, [the travel of] more tourists from other destinations can also be facilitated," he said.

The President also said that the development of Maldivian, which is owned by Island Aviation, will benefit the entire economy of Maldives. He went on to say that increasing the number of tourist arrivals is in the hands of Maldivians, and pledged to further propel the tourism and aviation industry.

"In the coming days, more improvements will be made to Island Aviation and MACL will also make further improvements and many stages will be achieved in a short period of time this year. The days of development work lie ahead," President Muizzu said.

He said that Maldives will start seeing important development works during this year, adding that he would make it a year of rapid growth in the economic, structural and social sectors.

Maldivian Airlines launched its services in 2000 with two Dornier 228 and Dash-8 aircrafts. With the addition of the Airbus A330 aircraft, the airline's fleet now stands at 25 aircrafts strong, and flies to 29 destinations. Last year, the airline operated 50,000 flights and carried one million passengers.