Originally Posted by
Musket90
Although not a wide body Monarch also flew the B757 from Gatwick to Trivandrum via Bahrain.
I had pleasure of flying on Airtours B767-300 to Maldives via Bahrain in early 2000's. On one occasion to Maldives the B767 was tech and they replaced it with a DC10-30 and as there were no DC10 crews in Bahrain they flew to Dubai with crew having minimum rest period before returning to Gatwick. The onward leg to Maldives was switched to an Emirates B777-200..
Monarch also operated the A330-200 to Maldives sometimes originating Manchester via Gatwick or Gatwick via Manchester.
First Choice flew the B767-300 non stop to Maldives from both Manchester and Gatwick and latterly the TUI B787 but then stopped in 2014.
Nice,
The very good days in the Maldives were seeing LTU Tristars, MD-11 and A330,
Condor 747 and DC-10, Balair and Martinair DC-10,
Alitalia 747 and DC-10 ,Eurofly A330
Lauda 767 and 777,
SQ 747-200/300
Caledonian flew the DC-10, or used the Tristar when it was Tech.
For some reason Mondays was really busy there....No taxiway was available so aircraft had to make a 180 degree turn on the runway in order to enter the ramp in front of the little terminal.
I always saw a couple of old Maldives Airways DC-8's there rotting away in the sun, then one year I gather they had flown out!