The national airline of Spain, Iberia, has started operations to the Maldives.

218 passengers traveled onboard Iberia’s maiden flight to the island nation on Saturday.

The airline will be operating three weekly direct flights between Madrid and Male’ -on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays- during the months of July and August.

Iberia, back in April, announced that it will be starting operations to the Maldives in time for summer. While it was initially to fly two weekly flights, the airline said this was increased to three ‘due to the great acceptance among the main Spanish tour operators’.

Executive Chairman of the Spanish airline, Javier Sánchez-Prieto revealed that their decision to add Maldives to its summer destination routes mirrors their efforts to boost tourism and raise the company morale. He added that it is also an “example of how Iberia is adapting to the new circumstances and opening new markets.”

Authorities believe that Iberia’s decision to start operations to Maldives will increase visitors from Spain as well as Europe.

While Maldives aims to welcome 1.5 million visitors this year, there is currently a temporary ban on travelers from South Asia. This could be lifted as early as July 15, depending on the region’s Covid-19 situation in the days ahead.

The archipelago nation welcomed 555,213 visitors in 2020, a drastic decline from the previous year’s 1.7 million. This was entirely due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, which forced authorities to close off border for nearly four months.

Maldives welcomed 510,549 visitors from 1 January to 30 June.