Bahrain’s flag carrier, Gulf Air is to resume flights to Maldives.

The airline announced its decision to resume flight operations to Velana International Airport (VIA) from December 12 onward.

Gulf Air will be operating two weekly flights to and from VIA.

The flag carrier of Bahrain operated its first airline to the Maldives during October, 2019.

Maldives responded to the escalating situation of Covid-19 by shutting down borders on March 27 following which the country’s tourism industry was at a complete standstill for over three months. The government has been implementing numerous measures against the virus since borders reopened for international travel on July 15.

Since then, over 11 international airlines have resumed flights to the island nation, including Emirates, Qatar Airways, Aeroflot, Air India, British Airways, Edelweiss, Etihad Airways, Indigo, Spicejet, Sri Lankan Airlines and Turkish Airlines.

The increase in flight frequencies and tourist arrivals signal optimism in recovering from the Covid-19 situation.

The tourist arrival rate has been steadily increasing, having reached over 37,000 arrivals since July 15.

Earlier, authorities had also extended the validity time for negative PCR certification from 72 hours to 96 hours prior to tourist arrival in the Maldives.