India-Maldives row: Indian airlines not looking to reduce flights to Maldives yet

Maldives, a travel hot spot for Indians, is facing backlash after a minister of the island nation made derogatory comments against PM Modi, which has led to many Indian travellers cancelling their trip to the overseas destination

Indian airlines flying to the Maldives are not looking to reduce flights to the tourist destination amid the ongoing India-Maldives row, multiple top airline executives told Moneycontrol.

Full-service carrier Vistara's Chief Commercial Officer Deepak Rajawat said that the airline has not cancelled any flight to Maldives so far and will monitor the demand.

"The situation is evolving right now... we will have to monitor in a week or so," he said in response to queries about the Maldives situation.

Similarly, a top executive from India's largest carrier IndiGo also said that the airline has not cancelled flights to the Maldives so far and has not seen a trend of flight cancellations to the Maldives by Indian citizens.

"Bookings to the Maldives have fallen significantly in the past 36 hours but so far there is no trend of flight cancellations to the Maldives," the official told Moneycontrol.

Another executive from Air India said that so far the Indian government has not asked airlines to consider reducing flights to the Maldives, he added that trade between the two countries also remains strong despite the blowout on social media.

"Airlines cannot take a call on political situations unless the government warrants strict action, so far the Indian government has not issued any instructions to airlines over the Maldives situation," the executive said, adding, that Air India stands in support of the Indian government and the country and will monitor the situation closely.

IndiGo has 28 flights to the Maldives this week, while Vistara and SpiceJet have seven flights each and Air India has six flights to Maldives, data shared by Ciricum, an aviation analytics company, shows.

Indian carriers will operate a total of 48 flights to the Maldives this week while Maldivian carriers will operate another 10 flights between the two countries.

Air India connects Male to Mumbai and Delhi, while Vistara flies from Mumbai and Delhi.

IndiGo operates to Male from Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Kochi, and Hyderabad. Maldivian flights operate to Bengaluru, Trivandrum and Kochi in India from Male.

Earlier today, a senior official also said that the government is "looking at derogatory remarks" by some Maldives ministers made against India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his recent visit to Lakshadweep.

The official added that the government has not asked airlines to take any action so far.

Maldives, a travel hot spot for Indians, is facing backlash after a minister of the island nation made derogatory comments against PM Modi, which has led to many Indian travellers cancelling their trip to the overseas destination.

Also read: Prime Minister Modi's Lakshadweep visit exposes tension in India-Maldives ties

Online travel aggregator (OTA) EaseMyTrip has halted flight bookings to the island nation.

"In solidarity with our nation,@EaseMyTrip has suspended all Maldives flight bookings," Prashant Pitti, CEO and co-founder of EaseMyTrip, said on the micro-blogging site X formerly known as Twitter.

Pitti said that every year 3 lakh people visit Maldives from India. "We are focusing on promoting tourism in domestic destinations like Lakshadweep and have also launched five new packages to promote Lakshadweep," he said.

He urged airlines to work on direct connectivity to Lakshadweep from Delhi, Mumbai and other cities to promote tourism there. "We are also promoting Ayodhya and hope Lakshwadeep and Ayodhya become international tourist spots," he said.

On January 8, the Indian Chamber of Commerce also issued an “appeal to boycott Maldives”.

Travel industry veteran Subhash Goyal, who heads ICC’s aviation and tourism committee, has appealed to all Indian trade associations to “stop promoting Maldives given the anti-India feelings expressed by ministers of Maldives.”

“Please divert all such queries to Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, which are even better than Maldives in many ways.. other destinations that can be promoted in the Indian Ocean region are Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Bali, Phuket etc,” he said.

Goyal “appealed” Indian carriers to suspend flights to Maldives and asked Indian hotel companies to invest in Lakshadweep “for better returns.” Goyal’s STC Travels has also stopped selling Maldives (packages, tickets etc), he added.

Tourism is the largest foreign exchange earner for the Maldives and the country is targeting 20 lakh arrivals for 2024.

Indian tourists were the highest among visitors to the Maldives till December 2023, according to data from the country's tourism ministry.

Out of the total 17.57 lakh tourists who travelled to the island nation, India had the highest share in terms of the number of visitors at 2 lakh followed by countries like Russia and China.

The Maldives government on January 7 suspended three of its ministers — Deputy Ministers Malsha Shareef, Mariyam Shiuna and Mahzoom Majid of Youth Empowerment, Information and Arts — for their derogatory remarks against PM Modi.