India's Vistara Airline has commenced scheduled direct flights to the Maldives.
Vistara is scheduled to operate seven weekly flights to Velana International Airport (VIA) from Mumbai. The airline will use an Airbus A320 for the operations between India and the Maldives.
Earlier, Vistara Airlines operated operate three weekly chartered flights to VIA from Mumbai. In recent months, travel from India has increased, with the Maldives re-emerging as a tourist destination among Indian travellers. As such, Go Air, Air India, and Spicejet operate flights between India and the Maldives.
Vistara Airline is a joint venture of Tata Group and Singapore Airlines. It is India's highest-rated airline on Skytrax and Tripadvisor and has also been the winner of several best airline awards.
As per the statistics, India is the top source market for the Maldivian tourism industry. As such, 13.6% of the total tourist arrivals so far this year is recorded from India.