The Maldives which experiences Russian tourist arrivals in great numbers expects a heavy blow on its tourism in light of Aeroflot's decision to halt its international operations.
The Russian flagship carrier announced it will be grounding all of its international flight operations with the exception of Belarus amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Meanwhile, Russia's state airline claimed that its decision of suspending international flights from Tuesday, 07th March onwards is due "to additional circumstances that prevent the performance of flights."
The Russian aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya recommended on Saturday, 05th March to suspend foreign-leased or registered flights over "fears that they could be seized by foreign governments."
The Maldives expects the after-effects of Russian state airline's decision for the suspension to be adversarial.
The front man of Inner Maldives, a popular tour operator in the country stated that Aeroflot's decision will be reflected on tourist arrivals to the country.
"The airline transports over 300 passengers daily [to the Maldives], with one flight per day and sometimes more than that," Mr. Mohamed Firaq, the owner of Inner Maldives said.
Furthermore, reports also confirm that Aeroflot will discontinue its charter flight operations to the Maldives on Thursday, 09th March.
Statistics claim that 15 percent of all tourist arrivals to the Maldives travel by Aeroflot. On the other hand, Russia happens to be the strongest single source market to the Maldives with over 33,000 tourist arrivals from the country so far in 2022.
Although Aeroflot has suspended its international operations, two other carriers; Azure and Nordwind are still operational.
Moreover, Russian travelers use other connecting flights to reach the Maldives with some popular options being Qatar Airways, Emirates, and Sri Lankan Airlines.
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