On 20th January 2015, the Chinese Ambassador to Maldives H.E. Mr. Wang Fukang attended the ceremony held at the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport to welcome the first A321 aircraft to join the Maldivian fleet, and delivered a speech at the ceremony. The ceremony was also attended by the Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Dr. Mohamed Shainee,Minister of Environment and Energy, Mr. Thoriq Ibrahim, the Managing Director ofIsland Aviation Mr. Abdul Haris, and Managing Director of Maldives AirportsCompany Ltd, Mr. Ibrahim Saleem etc.
The Ambassador, in his speech expressed that after the successful official mutual visits by the leaders of both countries, China and Maldives have established a future-oriented friendly and cooperative partnership, devoting to jointly build the 21st Century MaritimeSilk Road. The China-Maldives friendship has benefited the two peoples, and China has remained the largest source country for tourist arrivals in the Maldives for five years continuously. Simultaneously, more direct flight routes have also been opened between the two countries. The operation of the Maldivian's aircrafts to the three new destinations would ensure greater convenience to the Chinese tourists visiting Maldives.
In their speeches, Minister Shainee, Managing Director Haris and Managing Director Saleem highly praised the Maldives-China relations, and expressed that the friendly bilateral relations have facilitated the closer cooperation between the two countries in various fields,especially in the aviation and tourism sectors, and thanked China for promoting Chinese tourists to visit Maldives, and for the support provided to the Maldivian aviation companies to operate planes and in establishing new routes.
The Maldivian is operated the Island AviationServices which is a government company. In addition to the domestic flights, theMaldivian also operates sea planes, and international flights from Male' to Chongqing and Wuhan. The new A321 aircraft in the Maldivian fleet would enabledirect flights from Male' to Xian, Changsha, and Nanjing.
