Emirates boosts Maldives flights

Emirates will introduce a third daily service from Dubai to Malé, the capital of the Maldives, from December 1.

Emirates flight EK656 will depart Dubai International Airport at 0210hrs, and arrive in Malé at 0715hrs, adding seven more inbound flights a week to the Maldives, increasing passenger and cargo capacity on the route by a third. The outbound flight EK657 will depart Malé International Airport, Hulhulé, at 0845hrs and arrive in Dubai at 1155hrs (all times local).

All four Emirates daily New Zealand services offer connections at Dubai with the airline’s flights to Male.

"The Maldives has proven to be a strong market for leisure and family travel. With a wide range of luxury hotel chains, romantic beaches and adventurous water sports activities; it certainly has something for everyone," said Ahmed Khoory, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations- West Asia and Indian Ocean. "Emirates’ additional daily flight to Malé will give our customers greater flexibility in their travel plans allowing them to visit this exciting destination and connect seamlessly to other flights on Emirates’ extensive global.

The seven new flights a week will be operated with Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in two class configuration, adding 294 Business Class and 2,702 Economy Class seats each way per week on the route, as well as 23 tonnes of additional capacity for cargo per flight.

Both cabins are equipped with Emirates’ award-winning ice entertainment system with up to 1,800 channels on-demand entertainment to choose from, including movies, television programmes, games, audio books and music from across the world.

As with all Emirates flights, passengers on the new Dubai- Malé services will enjoy the extra generous Emirates baggage allowance of 30kg in Economy Class and 40 kg in Business Class. The additional services also provide more opportunities for members of Skywards, the award-winning frequent flyer programme of Emirates Airline, to earn Skywards Miles on their travel.