Male’, Maldives – Kazakhstan’s flag carrier, Air Astana has announced their they will start operating to Maldives starting from tomorrow, December 5.
Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) said that that the flights will operate from Almaty, Kazakhstan to Velana International Airport twice a week, on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The airline’s brand new Airbus 321LR aircraft is to be used for these flights to Maldives.
In addition to Air Astana, Air Seychelles is also to start flights to Maldives from Johannesburg, America. Flights of Air Seychelles is scheduled to be on every Saturday.
Currently, an online health declaration form is required to be filled within 24 hours prior to departure to Maldives and a negative COVID-19 PCR test result, taken maximum 96 hours before departure to Maldives, is also needed by all tourists.
These guidelines set by the Health officials and Tourism Ministry are to ensure the protection of both tourists and locals while Maldives attempts to arise from the loss in tourism over the pandemic.
The Maldivian borders initially closed in March due to the ongoing global pandemic, Covid-19 and had huge impact on the tourism industry as well as the economy. The borders were reopened 3 months later on July 15. Since the reopening of the border the number of tourists travelling to Maldives as well as the number of airlines operating to Maldives has slowly started to increase. Till now, more than 70,000 tourists have arrived to the Maldives since border reopening.
