DISTANT Dreams is including the new Air Maldives flight from Gatwick to Male in its programme when the service starts on November 9.
The new flight will also be featured in Cosmos’ Tropical Places brochure in December.
The airline, which will operate an A310-300 twice weekly from the UK, will be the only scheduled carrier to offer a non-stop service from Britain.
Flight time is 10hrs, compared with about 13hrs with Emirates and Air Lanka, which both stop at Dubai and Sri Lanka.
Cosmos aviation manager Peter West said the new service is expected to increase business to the Maldives rather than take it away from Cosmos’ Monarch charter.
The operator currently carries about 5,000 clients a year to the Maldives.
“We believe there is a market for both the charter and scheduled operation,” he said. “We certainly do not want to erode our Monarch business.”
West said in addition to Distant Dreams introducing Air Maldives flights, Cosmos is also considering taking an allocation on the services.
He added that prices with the scheduled carrier would be extremely competitive – about 10%more than to fly with Monarch.
To celebrate the launch, Distant Dreams is offering six nights’ half-board at the four-star resort of Vilamendhoo for £699 between November 9 and December 10.