Maldivian (Q2, Malé) has issued a Request for Proposals for the dry lease of two A330-200s for immediate delivery.
The carrier, which currently does not operate widebody aircraft, is looking to contract each aircraft for six years. It expects offers for deliveries in the first or second quarter of 2023.
Maldivian intends to dry lease an A330 configured in a two-class layout with business class seating between 25 and 30 passengers. The aircraft should preferably be equipped with Rolls-Royce engines (each with at least 5,000 cycles remaining), have a maximum take-off weight of at least 230 tonnes, and be certified for 180-minute ETOPS operations. Maldivian prefers aircraft with onboard WiFi connectivity. The A330 should be certified airworthy for another 2,800 flight hours or 1,200 flight cycles, and have no scheduled major maintenance events from the date of delivery for 24 months, 7,500 flight hours or 5,000 flight cycles.
The airline expects lessors to provide a "training and support package", including five teams of the flight deck crew, two cabin crew instructors, as well as a maintenance course for Maldivian's engineers.
Maldivian has set the deadline for offers as March 20, 2023. The carrier will not accept proposals from brokers and intermediaries. Parties can submit bids for one or both aircraft.
The carrier did not disclose its specific network plans for the aircraft other than saying it would use it to connect Malé with long-haul destinations. The ch-aviation fleets module shows that Maldivian's current fleet comprises one A320-200, two ATR72-600s, seven DHC-8-Q300s, one DHC-8-Q200, one DHC-8-200, and eleven DHC-6-300s. The carrier has never operated widebody aircraft in its history.
