flydubai has announced new flights to Malé, the capital of the Republic of Maldives.

Commencing on January 19th 2013, flights will operate five times a week between Dubai’s Terminal 2 and the Maldives’ Ibrahim Nasir International Airport on the island of Malé.

Bringing flydubai’s presence in the Indian subcontinent to nine points across six countries, the new route will allow travellers from across the region to enjoy affordable fares to one of the world’s most renowned leisure destinations.

“We are very excited about adding Malé to our destination network,” said flydubai’s chief executive, Ghaith Al Ghaith.

“As the first low-cost carrier from the UAE to fly to the Maldives, we are making this island paradise even more accessible to travellers across our network.

The country has proved particularly popular amongst travellers from Russia, CIS and GCC, with figures revealing a 15.7 per cent increase in tourist arrivals in the first quarter of this year compared to January to March 2011.

“We anticipate a strong demand for flights from the GCC, in particular Kuwait, as well as markets such as Russia, CIS and Central & Eastern Europe.

“Thanks to our strong presence in both these regions, passengers will be able to fly to the Maldives via our Dubai hub,” said Al Ghaith.

“This will be our first launch in 2013 and we look forward to welcoming passengers from across our network to this wonderful country.”