Noonu Atoll, Maldives – Over 100 private jets are expected to land in Maafaru International Airport this month according to the management of the airport.
The General Manager of Maafaru Airport, Mumthaz Ali informed that the number of private jets that were supposed to be land in Maafaru Airport this month has increased by approximately 59 percent.
According to Mumthaz, the airport was initially expecting to welcome only 40 jets, however, he said that the rate increased by a great extend as the holiday season begun in December. With the peak tourism season, the Maafaru Airport is currently expecting to welcome over 100 jets during this month.
Although the airport had received considerably less amount of private jets when the International borders of Maldives first reopened in July, Mumthaaz noted that the number of private jets are expected to increase as the months pass by.
As said, while the airport only received 13-15 private jets during the first three months from the border reopening, the amount increased by a great extend on October, where 41 private jets were recorded to have landed on the airport.
Since then, the number has increased by a great extend in November to 65 landings and now, the airport expects over 100 private jets to land in the airport on December. Statistics shows that during the first five days of December alone, 18 private jets landed at Maafaru Airport.
Maldives closed its international borders on March to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus. However, as the country solely depends on its tourism sector, it reopened their borders on July 15 as soon as the number of confirmed cases started to decrease in the country.
After the borders opened, the Tourism Ministry has been proactively doing various activities and taking measures to promote tourism in the country including promotional events and high safety standards in the tourism sector to prevent spreading of Covid-19 virus in the resorts and other tourist facilities.
Luckily, Maldives also got certified as a “Safe Travel” destination, which is safe for tourists to travel to, on September. This stamp is only provided to the countries that are the safest to visit to despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. With the help of the stamp, the island nation continues to gain more tourist to the country, slowly making progress in its economy.
While the island nation does not require tourist to go through quarantine or testing on arrival, all the tourists are required to complete an online health declaration form given by the country and to also provide a negative PCR test result along with it. The PCR test must be taken at least 96 hours prior to departure.
