Pudong International Airport in Shanghai added a direct flight to Male, capital of Maldives on Feb 13, to offer more options for getting away at holidays.

The flight is operated by China Eastern Airlines with the flight number of FM9861 (outward) and FM9862 (inward) on a Boeing 747 aircraft. It flies every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, departing from Pudong at 1 pm to arrive at Male International Airport at 5:05 pm local time. The return flight leaves Male at 6:05 pm local time, and arrives at Pudong at 5am on the next morning.

This flight serves as the first and only direct one to Maldives for domestic airliners, and saves at least four hours than the previous transfer flight.

Currently, Chinese tourists are granted landing visas to Maldives.