Booming demand prompts Qatar Airways to upgrade Maldives flights with Airbus A350

Qatar Airways has become the first airline to fly the state-of-the-art Airbus A350 to the Maldives.

The airline has upgraded its current double-daily A330 service to an A350, with the first A350 beginning operations in early November.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said, “We are proud to be the first airline to fly our Airbus A350 to the Maldives. As one of the airline’s most in-demand destinations, we are delighted to be upgrading our aircraft and providing our passengers with the ultimate comfort and services on board one of the most technologically innovative aircraft in the sky.”

Qatar Airways first launched service to the Maldives in December 2001. The airline operated the service using an A330 aircraft, which features 30 seats in Business Class and 275 in Economy Class.

Qatar Airways was the global launch customer of the Airbus A350 in January 2015. The award-winning airline has the largest fleet of this aircraft type of any airline in the world and currently operates 19 A350 aircraft across its global network to destinations, including Adelaide, Brussels, Geneva, Singapore and Tokyo. It was also the first airline to fly the A350 to the United States and to Australia.

The Airbus A350 aircraft features a total of 283 seats, with 36 Business class seats and 247 in Economy Class.