Air France launches direct flights to Maldives ahead of winter

The national carrier of France, Air France has launched direct operations to Maldives on Tuesday for the upcoming winter season.

The airline is operating direct flights between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Velana International Airport.

The first flight, AF 268, landed at the Velana International Airport at 08:10 am on Tuesday.

The airline will operate three weekly flights on the 270-seat Boing 787 Dreamliner.

Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL)’s spokesperson said many European airlines are expected to start operations to Maldives for winter – the peak tourism season.

“We expect it to boost tourist arrivals from Europe,” said the spokesperson.

Air France has been operating direct flights for the winter holidays since 2017.

Maldives has seen 1,344,358 tourist arrivals by the end of October – surpassing the total arrivals in 2021. France is an important source market for tourist arrivals to Maldives – ranked 7th highest supplier of tourists with 2.9 percent of total arrivals.