Maldivian airlines to fly Colombo from August
Saliya Rupasinghe in Male
Male Wednesday: Maldivian airlines will operate direct flights to
Colombo from August 7 this year. The airline owned and operated by
Island Aviation Services Ltd is the leading domestic carrier of the
country. They plan to operate three flights per week initially . The
services are to be operated from the Gan Addu (Seenu), the island
nation’s other International Airport.
The Maldivian Airline aircraft |
The carrier was formerly known as Island Aviation and was re-branded
in August 2008. The main reason for the re-branding was to establish a
brand in order to further distinguish the airline in the existing
markets and to give the airline a name that reflected its origins - the
Maldives and its people.
The Minister of Economic Development Ahmed Mohamed siad that the
trade and tourism between the two countries are increasing and this was
one of the key reasons for the airline to fly to Colombo. Many
Maldivians also visit Sri Lanka to obtain health and education services.
In addition tourists as well as labour expatriate workers based in the
Maldives also use Colombo as one of their main transit points to travel
to Indian and European destinations.
The Minister commenting also said that Sri Lankan expatriate workers
are a key to economic development of the Maldives and since of late
there is a shift from unskilled labour to skilled labour from Sri Lanka. |