Villa Air celebrates 11 years of service

Villa Air, also known as Flyme, a privately owned Maldivian airline founded in 2011 celebrated their 11-year anniversary on the 1st of October 2022.

Villa Air was founded 11 years ago with a vision to provide an affordable and convenient mode of transportation within the Maldives. Since the introduction of the tourism industry in the country, one of the biggest challenges faced within the industry was the unfamiliarity of tourists with boat transfers.

As many guests felt motion sickness or sea sickness during their transfer, a solution needed to be provided in order to broaden the industry within the Maldives.

With these issues in mind, Villa air was founded, not only to cater to tourists who were desperately looking for air travel but also for locals who needed an affordable mode of travel to bridge the gap between the local islands of the Maldives.

Villa Air set standards when they started their operations as it was the first privately-owned airline and airport to be welcomed in the Maldives. And so, the airline's operations started at Maamigili, South Ari Atoll, which is still known to be the home of fly me 11 years later. 

The introduction of this airline was not only beneficial for travelers, but it was also beneficial for the Maldivian economy as it created a large number of jobs for people in that region. In addition to this, the airline, without a doubt, contributed to the development of tourism in the Maldives. 

In a ceremony hosted at Crossroads Maldives to celebrate the golden jubilee year of the tourism industry in the Maldives, Villa Air was awarded for the contribution that they put into the development of the industry.

While the airline is still working with the same goals that they set in 2011 in order to provide accessible and affordable transportation for locals and tourists alike, the privately-owned airline is no longer able to fly to the nine destinations that they started with due to multiple challenges that the airline faces. 

Regardless of these challenges, the airline appears to be broadening its horizon by facilitating more services and easing access to the airline with the recent signing of an agreement with Aasandha in order to facilitate domestic air transportation for patients who need to be transported to another island for medical reasons.