The national airline, Maldivian, officially welcomed its first wide-body aircraft yesterday.
The government's Spokesperson Heena Waleed made a series of posts on X this morning to mark the historic occasion.
In a post at 6:23 am, Heena said a "brand new" wide-body aircraft was brought following the decision of the Cabinet.
"Today, with a fleet of 24 aircrafts, operations across 4 airports, over 1 million passengers annually and a brand new A330 widebody aircraft, our horizons have expanded more than ever before," she wrote.
However, her statement was untrue as the new addition to the Maldivian's fleet is not a "brand new" aircraft.
First operated in 2010 and in operation for the past 14 years
Maldivian did not say whether the rented aircraft was new.
The A330 (manufacturer serial number:1161) was first operated in 2010 by the Netherlands' national airline, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. The company operated the plane under the code PH-AOM.
A330 (manufacturer serial number:1161) was first operated in 2010 by the Netherlands' national airline.
According to airfleets.net, which provides details of civil aircraft used around the world, the plane made its first flight on September 17, 2010. KLM flew it for 10 years.
After that, the plane was operated by Suriname Airways, the national airline of Suriname, a South American country. The airline used the code 9H-PAX.
Suriname Airways flew the aircraft from September 2022 to January 2023. The records show that the aircraft last flew under the Suriname Airways flag on January 7, 2023.
Since then, the plane had been stored before being rented to Maldivian.
The Airbus 330-200, with 264 seats, will initially fly to Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. The aircraft has business class, premium economy class and economy class seats.
Maldivian hired the aircraft from TrueNoord of the Netherlands. The agreement was signed with the company in July last year.
