The first official flight of Maldivian’s recently acquired A-330 widebody aircraft, is scheduled from Chengdu, China to Velana International Airport (VIA) on Thursday, reports the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation.
Maldivian added the Airbus A330 to its fleet, making it the first Airbus widebody addition to the fleet, on January 06th. The airplane features a passenger capacity of 264, and is ideal for long-haul flights.
Maldivian announced it plans to launch direct flights to three Chinese locations, Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu. The airline also offers a special package for the China-Maldives return flights.
The airline is offering return fare at USD 688 for Chengdu route for bookings until January 30th, and a baggage allowance of up to 40 kilos for each purchased ticket.
For Beijing route, return tickets are priced USD 788 for bookings until February 1st and for Shanghai route, return tickets are offered at USD 777 for bookings until February 4th, and for both routes, each ticket comes with a baggage allowance of 40 kilos as well.
Besides Chine routes, Maldivian is expecting to launch direct flights to European destinations; with seven new routes added to the airline’s operations in 2025. Along with three prominent Chinese cities, Maldivian will reportedly fly to Johannesburg, South Africa and three major European cities as well.
While Maldivian previously operated to international routes, including China and South Africa, the flights were halted owing to lack of long-haul planes in the airline’s fleet.