Maldivian, the airline division of Island Aviation Services of the Maldives commenced its scheduled operations to Colombo.
This is the second international destination for the airline after Trivandrum.
Maldivian will initially operate five daily evening flights on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Two types of aircraft, Bombardier Dash8 Q300 (50 seats) and Q200 (37 seats) will be utilised by Maldivian for operations to and from Colombo. These aircraft are owned by the company.
Free lounge facilities will also be offered to all passengers who travel on Maldivian.
They can avail themselves of the ‘Palm Strip Lounge’ in Colombo and the ‘Finifenmaa’ Lounge in Male. The airline also provides four connections within Maldives.
Managing Director of Maldivian, Bandhu Ibrahim Saleem said he was happy with commencement of the flights to Sri Lanka. “Given the vast tourist potential between our two countries, we foresee a booming business and great promise in this sector.” He said 8,000 Sri Lankans working there and over 2,000 Maldivian students here would use this airline.
Maldivian is represented in Sri Lanka by Hemas Aviation (Pvt) Ltd, the GSA for Maldivian since December 1. “Recession is the fine time to invest and we are doing it now,” Saleem said.
He said they are also looking at Chennai from 2010.
Head of Hemas Transportation Sector Imtiaz Esufally noted that the company has over a decade long relationship with Maldivian, and looked forward to supporting and growing with them, in the years to come.
“It’s always good for the economy when ever a new airline commences operations,” he added. “It augurs well for tourism as well,” he added.
The company’s core business activities include Domestic Air Services, Ground Handling, Cargo Services at Male International Airport, Operation of CIP lounge at Male International Airport, Engineering Services and Flight Operations.
Source: www.dailynews.lk
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