Qatar Airways first airline to operate Airbus A350 to Male

In a move that makes history, Qatar Airways announced that it is the first airline ever 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 today and the second A350 service joining shortly afterwards on 3 November.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency 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 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. Thanks to the extra-wide cabin design, passengers on board are offered unparalleled comfort in both cabins, with Business Class fully flat beds and spacious seats in Economy.

The national carrier of the State of Qatar is one of the fastest-growing airlines operating one of the youngest fleets in the world. Now in its twentieth year of operations, Qatar Airways has a modern fleet of more than 200 aircraft flying to business and leisure destinations across six continents.

The award-winning airline has received a number of accolades this year, including ‘Airline of the Year’ by the prestigious 2017 Skytrax World Airline Awards, which was held at the Paris Air Show.