China Eastern Airlines has commenced flight operations to the Maldives.
China Easter Airlines is using an Airbus A300 to operate one flight per week from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to Velana International Airport (VIA). Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) stated that the first flight landed on VIA with 207 passengers.
China Southern Airlines is also scheduled to commence flight operations to the Maldives on February 20. Chinese airlines began resuming flights to the Maldives after the country re-opened its borders. On January 18, a Beijing Capital Airlines flight was the first to arrive in the Maldives since the COVID-19 pandemic.
China was the largest tourist market for the Maldives before the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. Since then, tourists from China had not traveled to the Maldives in the past three years due to the safety measures taken in China to halt the spread of COVID-19. However, the government of China has ended the COVID-19 restrictions for travelers. The Ministry of Tourism has revealed that China is now the 8th top source market 5,390 tourist arrivals so far this year.