Maldivian expresses keenness in strengthening Colombo route

• To commence two weekly flights from April 25 
• Says looking to connect Colombo with any domestic network in Maldives
• Shares plans to launch cargo collection service from Colombo 

• By Nishel Fernando 

Maldivian, the national airline of the Maldives, is looking to strengthen its Colombo route, with the introduction of two weekly flights starting from the 25th of this month.
Maldivian will operate two weekly flights to Colombo, departing every Thursday and Saturday.
Maldivian has partnered with Nawaloka Air Services (Pvt.) Ltd from Sri Lanka as the general sales agent.

“This is the beginning of the service; so, we are working to build up this route and to add more frequencies as we build up,” Maldivian Acting Chief Commercial Officer Ismail Amrah Umar told reporters in Colombo last Friday. 
The route will be operated with A-320 Airbus (14 Business Class and 138 Economy Class seats). A return ticket from Colombo is attractively priced at US $ 193 while from Male it is priced at US $ 201. This is inclusive of a hot meal.  

“We have very attractive price points. We have designed it in a way to capture leisure, medical and business travel. I believe it’s lower than most competitor fares in the market at the moment,” Umar added. 
He pointed out connectivity as one of the key advantages of flying with Maldivian.  Earlier this month, the carrier announced the launch of throughfares, a service connecting Maldivian’s 16 domestic points to its three international destinations, including Colombo. This service offers passengers with the convenience of booking their entire journey, including the domestic and international segments, in a single itinerary. 

Umar also emphasised that the new route offers a unique opportunity to promote leisure travel within the two countries. To promote Sri Lanka as a travel destination in the Maldives, he shared that the airline would be working with tour operators in Sri Lanka to formulate tour packages.  
Retrospectively, he noted that the Maldives caters to different travel segments with different price points, in terms of lodging in the country.

Maldivian is also looking at cargo operations on this route while capitalising on its vast domestic network in the Maldives. 
“At the moment, there’s lot of cargo taken that’s been taken to Male. We have the largest domestic network in the Maldives. We are looking to connect Colombo with any domestic network in the Maldives, we are planning to have services to collect cargo from Colombo and then have it delivered through our network in the Maldives,” Umar elaborated.

In terms of international flights, Maldivian currently flies to three Indian cities and Dhaka in Bangladesh. Umar noted that the airline will be rolling out its of global distribution system (GDS) in India, which could be followed in Sri Lanka potentially. 
“We will be entering into our first phase of GDS implementation with a focus in India but we would like to get your valuable feedback on Sri Lanka market and possibly extend our GDS converge to cover Sri Lanka as well,” he added. 

In the second half of the year, Maldivian is set to commence flights to China. 
The Maldivian fleet is currently going through a transformation programme, which is set be completed in 2025.
Maldivian also operates domestic sea planes as well as recently launched air ambulances services. Overall, its annual passenger handling amounts to over 1,000,000 passengers. 

PIC BY PRADEEP DILRUCKSHANA