When you visit the Maldives you fly into Male’s Velana International Airport (“MLE”) and then you need to transfer to your chosen resort/island. If it’s close to MLE you’ll go by speedboat. If it’s far from MLE (the Maldives archipelago is about 1000Km north to south) you’ll need a domestic flight to another airport.  Resorts in between are usually served by seaplanes (more correctly called “float planes”) operated by Trans Maldivian Airways (“TMA”), the largest seaplane operator in the world, with 50 aircraft in its fleet.  TMA only flies in the daylight hours (circa 07:00 to 18:00) so alternative arrangements will have to be made if your international flight gets to MLE at night. You don’t actually have any direct contact with TMA because hotel resorts handle all the bookings on your behalf, and exact flight schedules are only agreed to the day before travel.

TMA operates from a lagoon the other side of MLE’s runway and it provides a shuttle bus to there from its check in desks at MLE. But we were met by a representative of Four Seasons, who took our bags and passports, checked us in and then drove us across to the lagoon and showed us into the Four Seasons lounge. A few other resorts have their own private lounge area, but there’s a large open-sided lounge for everyone else to wait for their flights.  The Four Seasons lounge was spacious, cool and clean, with a small selection of drinks and nibbles, but also a very clean washroom with a shower cubicle.  We relaxed on sofas and watched the seaplanes manoeuvring on the lagoon outside.

We had been delayed on our flight into MLE and missed the flight we were booked on, but TMA and Four Seasons got us onto another flight and we only waited in the lounge a matter of minutes.

TMA don’t allocate individual seating on their flights, but when we boarded DHC-6 Twin Otter-400 we found vacant seats at the front of the cabin, right behind the doorless cockpit, so we could peep in on the two pilots flying the service. A third crew member performs the safety briefing then pops outside to cast the plane off from its moorings, returns and closes the door behind him before taking a seat at the back of the plane, where baggage is stored (both checked bags and cabin bags).

Most of TMA’s Twin Otters, like this one, have a pax capacity of 15 seats, arranged over 4 rows of 1-2 seating, plus a few single seats towards the rear. But a few have a “VIP” layout of just 8, 9 or 10 seats.  Even on the 15 seaters the legroom is perfectly good for a short flight.  Most planes don’t have aircon, but there were two electric fans at the front of the cabin to give a welcome breeze to the warm cabin.

Resorts, TMA and visitors will declare the seaplane transfer to be an incredibly exciting way of getting to your destination, which I agree with. But I can imagine many people could experience anxiety rather than excitement, so here are some technical facts to reassure you:  The Twin Otter, although quite old and no longer in production, is a famously reliable workhorse, able to take off and land in very short distances, so it can access small airstrips which larger planes can’t get to. It is used around the world in challenging environmental conditi0ns and has proven itself adept at operating on water, by having floats in place of wheels, or even by having skis, for cold climate operations.   The Twin Otter is not pressurised, which means the cabin atmosphere is the same as outside, so it has to fly low to ensure there’s enough oxygen to breath.  So you get great views of what you’re flying over!  Cycles of pressurisation can weaken an airframe (expanding and contracting every flight), so without pressurisation the Twin Otter can fly for many years longer than pressurised aircraft.  The age of the plane is almost irrelevant to its airworthiness.

The sea needs to be quite calm for the plane to take off and land, but the Maldives usually has that covered.  The two propellor engines are quite noisy, and TMA gives out ear plugs to help.  Don’t be alarmed; a noisy engine does not mean the engine is struggling, it’s just a function of its design and the amount of dampening put into the fuselage.  Take-off is gentle and it only takes 20 seconds for the plane to get airborne and landing is softer than on tarmac.  It’s all great fun!

The Twin Otter flies relatively slowly, at about 220Km/h (136mph), and quite low (maybe 2000ft), so the journey gives amazing views of the ocean and the tiny islands and atolls en route.  The 132Km to the Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru in the Baa Atoll lasted just 35 minutes.

For our return to MLE 4 days later we had the pleasure of being on one of TMA’s VIP configured Twin Otters, with just 8 comfortable leather seats.  This plane also had aircon.  The aircraft 8Q-TAK. is painted in a special Four Seasons livery, but I believe it operates to other resorts too.  In this more spacious layout we had an extra-amazing journey, which again lasted just 35 minutes and gave us a final view of the astonishingly beautiful Maldives before our night flight out of MLE to Doha on Qatar Airways.

A great experience, but at a price; about $1400 each return!  9/10