Upgrade for Neos passengers in the Maldives: it is the first Italian airline to use the new terminal in Malé

Neos is the first Italian airline to use the new Terminal 1 at Malè Airport in the Maldives.

The first Dreamliner unloaded its passengers at the air terminal, opened last July, Sunday, November 23 and to mark the occasion, the company that manages Velana Airport organized an inaugural ceremony, complete with 'water cannon salute' on arrival and ribbon cutting at the gate before departure.

For passengers of the Italian leisure airline, this is a huge leap forward in travel quality. Anyone who has been to the Maldives knows, in fact, that the least comfortable time of the vacation is the transit through the air terminal built in the 1980s and then later enlarged and modernized, but still at mediocre standards compared to the general level of travel: small and often crowded check-in area, spaces at departures sacrificed for both duty free and gate area, and only one lounge, not even too attractive.

Upon arrival, those disembarking are greeted by a cramped space with low ceilings and just two belts for baggage claim, before having to go outside, where it is almost always more than 30 degrees, to report to the counter of the tour operator or resort of choice, before going through, again outdoors and always in the great heat and humidity, the check-in process for the seaplane flight (those going to the hotel by boat save this part).

Compared with the old terminal, the new terminal dedicated to seaplanes looks like a five-star hotel in terms of decorum, services and temperature.

But last July, after a full 10 years of construction, opened what has been christened as Terminal 1. The new building has an area of 84,000 square meters (as opposed to 25,000 for the existing one), has A capacity of 7 million passengers per year (against traffic of about 4.5 million), has a large check-in hall, a new duty free And eight piers for direct passenger embarkation and disembarkation.

However, in the four months since its opening, few companies have moved there, probably because lounges and other services for premium passengers have not yet been made available. By mid-October, only local airlines plus some Asian and Middle Eastern airlines (flydubai and Air Arabia) had moved, while giants such as Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad, which have more than one daily flight between their Gulf hubs and the Maldives, had not yet done so.

Now, however, passengers of Neos will be able to enjoy the new spaces, thus making their travel experience in the Indian Ocean paradise much more homogeneous (on high standards). The company in Winter 2025-2026 (which is the high season in the Maldives) operates two weekly flights to Malé from Milan Malpensa (on Mondays and Fridays) and a weekly flight from Rome Fiumicino (on Sundays), Verona (Sunday) and Bari (always on Sundays). On Tuesdays, however, it connects the Maldives with the Polish capital, Warsaw.

All flights are nonstop and are operated with two-class Boeing 787-9s with 28 seats in Premium Economy and 327 or 331 seats in Economy.