On the same day that Chongqing Airlines commenced scheduled flights to the Maldives, its check-in counters were formally launched at Velana International Airport’s new Terminal 1 (T1) in a ceremony today orchestrated by Maldives Airports Company Ltd (MACL).
MACL Board Director Ibrahim Mahdy presided over the formalities as senior executives from MACL and airport-station staff joined the event, including Villa Travels’ Station Manager – Airport, Mohamed Fayyaz. The event featured a cultural welcome for arriving guests, and gifts for the outbound passengers. Onboard the inaugural flight, 142 departing travellers received commemorative presents, while 79 incoming guests on flight OQ2393 from Chongqing were greeted with a cultural performance.
Chongqing Airlines—operating under the umbrella of China Southern Airlines—launched its Maldives service on 24 June 2024 via a Chongqing–Colombo–Malé routing, and operates three weekly flights (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) using Airbus-A320 aircraft.
Terminal 1 now hosts the carrier as MACL enters the next phase of its airport-upgrade strategy: the new T1 is the twelfth airline to shift operations into this cutting-edge facility since its official inauguration on 26 July 2025.
MACL has emphasised that the new terminal is designed for 7.5 million passengers annually—with a footprint of 78,000 m², six aerobridges (and more planned), and advanced features such as self-check-in kiosks, automated baggage drops and modern baggage-handling systems.
For the Maldives tourism economy, this marks another important signal of increasing Chinese connectivity. China remains the archipelago’s top source market, with over 113,000 Chinese arrivals recorded by June 2024.
From the airport infrastructure side, MACL’s staged transfer of airlines into the new terminal supports a broader ambition of elevating service standards and throughput capacity at the country’s gateway hub. As of today, Chongqing Airlines is among the earliest adopters of T1 and reinforces the Maldives’ welcoming of “east-of-China” travellers.
In short, the landing of Chongqing Airlines into Terminal 1 not only expands route diversity for the Maldives, but also aligns airlines, infrastructure and tourism stakeholders behind a message of growth, modernisation and deeper China-Maldives linkages.
