China Eastern, China's third largest airline, has launched flights to the Maldives from Kunming.

The first flight of China Eastern arrived early yesterday. The flight was welcomed at the Velana International Airport by Tourism Minister Ibrahim Faisal and Chinese Ambassador to the Maldives Wang Lixin.

China Eastern will operate flights between Kunming and the Maldives every day of the week.

China Eastern is the second Chinese airline to resume flights to the Maldives since the outbreak of the coronavirus. The airline resumed flights to the Maldives on 4 February.

While China Eastern has launched flights to the Maldives from a new destination, Xiamen Air has also launched flights to the Maldives earlier this month. The airline operates flights to Maldives between Fujian.

Currently, four airlines operate flights from China to the Maldives, which is the largest single country for tourists.

According to the Tourism Ministry, 52,995 tourists arrived in the Maldives from China as of Tuesday. That is 13.3 percent of the 356,323 tourists so far.