Maldives Tourism is slowly rebounding as the island nation has reopened its frontiers on July 15th, on the basis of bookings with seaplane operator Trans Maldivian Airways and many resorts.
An official of Trans Maldivian, who doesn’t want to be named, tells Smart Aviation APAC that almost all of the 57 De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter seaplanes of the airlines have started their operation once again. Before, the carrier had grounded much of its fleet from 1st April, since several resorts had declared three to four-month close down.
The official of the airline says that the recovery in passenger numbers will carry on building momentum as more countries are opening their borders.
For many affluent tourists, the Maldives remains a one-of-a-kind destination, he adds by saying that the airline has grown its Twin Otter fleet consistently in all these years in spite of varying financial conditions.
The Trans Maldivian official says the airline is developing its business, having recently started its operation seaplane transfers to Radisson Blu Maldives. Also, it is watching for opportunities to develop more fleets, preferring the Series 300 Twin Otter over the Viking Air model for ease of maintenance in saltwater conditions, he says. The aircraft has been quite easy and seamless to bring back into service from storage during the pandemic period, he adds.
Trans Maldivian has 54 Series 300 Twin Otters and three Viking Air Twin Otters, making it the world’s largest Twin Otter operator.
In 2019, Trans Maldivian flew over one million passengers, says an official. International tourism-reliant Trans Maldivian has been completely in the power of travel restrictions introduced to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the worst being the lockdown from mid-March to mid-July, the official says.
During this lock-down period, hotels were not capable to take bookings and the only inter-island flights allowed were those for repatriation of stranded tourists, according to the Maldivian government’s announcements.
Tags: Maldives tourism
