Flydubai launches debut flight to Maldives
Dubai, January 21, 2013
Dubai’s low-cost airline flydubai has launched its debut flight to its latest destination – Malé, the capital of the Maldives. Flydubai now flies five times a week to the exotic nation.
The inaugural flight, FZ561, departed Dubai Terminal 2 at 12.35pm yesterday (20 January), arriving at Malé International Airport (Ibrahim Nasir International Airport) at 6.20am (local time).
A water cannon salute and delegation of senior Maldivian state officials received the aircraft and flydubai’s CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith on the runway.
Welcoming the delegation, Ahmed Adheeb Abdul Ghafoor, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, said: “The start of flydubai's flights open our wonderful nation to a wider number of tourists, while also offering affordable fares to Dubai for our residents."
"Through this regular service, we look forward to welcoming travellers from a wider range of destinations and continuing to develop our tourism appeal," he added.
Al Ghaith said Malé flight launch was a great start to the year as Flydubai introduces its affordable fares and innovative onboard services to a new market.
"I am confident that the Maldives will prove attractive to passengers from across our network, particularly those in the GCC and CIS regions who can transit easily through Dubai’s aviation hub," he remarked.
Furthering its commitment to enhancing passenger experience, flydubai has become the first airline to offer daily updated digital newspapers through its In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) system. The eReader platform provides access to 45 newspapers in seven languages from across the globe in pdf format.
Patrick Préfontaine, the president of DTI Solutions, the airline industry’s leading provider of in-flight digital reading software which supplied flydubai’s eReader, said: “We’re delighted to have helped flydubai achieve this historic project."
Meanwhile, joining flydubai in the Maldives were representatives from Boeing, who delivered the airline’s latest 737-800 aircraft in December 2012.
“We are extremely proud of our partnership with flydubai and their confidence in the Boeing 737,” said Kent Craver, Regional Director for Passenger Satisfaction and Revenue, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
“It is the confidence that flydubai and other airlines around the world have in this airplane that made 2012 a record year for the 737 programme which accumulated 1,124 net orders, the most any Boeing model has had in a single year."
Flydubai now flies five times a week to the Maldives, a nation consisting of twenty-six atolls and 1,190 coral islands.
The country is particularly popular with tourists from Russia, CIS and the GCC, who are attracted by the lush white sandy beaches, serene turquoise lagoons and richly colourful coral reefs that are renowned the world over for their bio-diversity and radiant flora and fauna.
Gerald Lawless, the president and CEO of Jumeirah Group, said: “We congratulate the flydubai team on opening up the new route to the Maldives. This will allow many more people to experience the exotic beauty of this remarkable nation, where we are proud to run two of the most beautiful luxury hotels: Jumeirah Vittaveli and Jumeirah Dhevanafushi.”-TradeArabia News Service
