International Connectivity – Airlines Operating to Maldives in H122

International airlines operating to the Maldives has dropped from thirty-five in January to twenty-five in June 2022.

According to the latest updates by the Ministry of Tourism, there were twenty-one scheduled airlines and four chartered airlines operating to the Maldives in June 2022. From this, five scheduled and two chartered airlines are from Europe, six scheduled airlines are from Middle East; two scheduled and one chartered airlines from India; seven scheduled and one chartered airlines operate from other parts of the world.

Six international airlines from Middle East have remained constant throughout the first half of the year. This includes Emirates, Etihad Airways, Fly Dubai, Gulf Air, Qatar Airways and Saudi Arabian Airlines.

A significant change is seen in number of airlines flying from Europe. Twelve scheduled airlines operated from the region until March 2022. This includes Aeroflot, Air France, Air Ukraine, Austrian Airlines, Azur Air Russia, British Airways, Condor, Edelweiss, Lufthansa, Neos, Nordwind, and Turkish Airlines. From this, five airlines discontinued in April 2022 – Aeroflot, Air France, Air Ukraine, Azur Air Russia, and Nordwind. May 2022 saw the addition of Eurowings from Germany to the list, while June saw the addition of Aeroflot from Russia and absence of British Airways, Condor, Lufthansa and Austrian Airways. Air Astana has been operating chartered flights since the beginning of the year.

From India, Air India; Go Air and IndiGo operated flights until May, with GoAir missing from the list in June 2022. Air Vistara is currently operating chartered flights from the country.

Scheduled airlines operating from other parts of the world, according to June 2022 updates, include Air Asia; Air Asia Thailand; Air Seychelles; Bangkok Airways; Maldivian; Singapore Airlines; and Sri Lankan Airlines. Chartered flights were operated by US-Bangla Airline since January 2022.

Emirates tops the list of international airlines by number of passengers carried this year, followed by Qatar Airways; Indigo; Turkish Airlines; and Sri Lankan Airlines.

According to the country’s main airport, Velana International Airport (VIA), Q122 sees a positive trend, with total passengers increasing by 1.36 million (76 per cent) and air traffic movement increasing by 15.8K (43 per cent) compared to the same period of 2021.

Featured Image: VIA on Twitter