S7 Airlines Begins Twice-Weekly Flights between Novosibirsk and Malé
The airline's first flight from Novosibirsk landed at Velana with a full load on 30 October, after refuelling in Uzbekistan rather than at the Indian stop announced in July.
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S7 Airlines has started scheduled flights between Novosibirsk in Siberia and Malé. Its first service landed at Velana International Airport on Friday, 30 October, the airline said that day.
The Airbus A320 left Novosibirsk's Tolmachevo airport with a full load of passengers, according to S7. The flights will run twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays. They leave Novosibirsk at 04:10 local time, and the return flights leave Malé at 14:10 on the same days.
S7 puts the journey time at about 10 hours 30 minutes, including a technical stop to refuel in Termez, Uzbekistan. Russia's Ministry of Transport said the flight covered 5,600 kilometres and was the first from Siberia to Malé. Photographs released by the airline show the aircraft receiving a water salute on arrival at Velana.
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The refuelling stop is not the one S7 announced when it opened ticket sales on 6 July. At the time, the airline said the aircraft would refuel in Jaipur, India, with passengers staying on board.
The July schedule also had flights leaving Novosibirsk at 04:25 and reaching Malé at 13:00 local time, with return flights arriving in Novosibirsk at 02:30 the next day. S7's statement on the first flight gives the earlier 04:10 departure but no arrival times.
Malé is one of five new routes from Novosibirsk in S7's winter schedule, which took effect on 25 October, the airline said earlier this month. The others are Colombo in Sri Lanka, Guangzhou and Chengdu in China, and Phuket in Thailand. S7 said the schedule covers more than 140 destinations.
The Russian ministry said Aeroflot also flies to Velana from Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, nine times a week. It counts the Maldives among 39 countries with direct flights to Russia. When the winter season began, the ministry said passengers would have more options for flying to the Maldives from different Russian airports. The season runs until the last Saturday of March 2027.
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Russia is the second-largest source of tourists for the Maldives this year, after China. The Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation's daily update of 29 October recorded 253,217 tourist arrivals from Russia up to 28 October, 14.5% of the total. China accounted for 329,345, or 18.9%. The United Kingdom was third, with 134,487.
Total visitor arrivals for the year reached 1,775,974 by 28 October, 3.1% fewer than in the same period of 2025, according to the same report. Velana International Airport handled 98% of them.
