British Airways is to offer a daily direct service between London and Maldives from Saturday.

Britain’s flag carrier resumed its direct winter service to the Maldives in late October and has since been flying between London Heathrow and Male’s Velana International Airport three times a week.

The additional flights come just before the Christmas and New Year holiday season.

Britons no longer need to self-isolate for 14 days when returning from the Maldives.

Meanwhile, British Airways has introduced a range of measures, which it requires customers and crew abide by. These include:

• Checking-in online, downloading their boarding pass and where possible self-scanning their boarding passes at the departure gate where possible
• Observing social distancing and using hand sanitisers that are placed throughout airports
• Wearing a face mask at all times and bringing enough to replace them every four hours for longer flights
• Asking customers not to travel if they think they have any symptoms of Covid-19
• Cabin crew wearing PPE and a new food service, which reduces the number of interactions required with customers
• Asking customers to ensure they have everything they need from their hand luggage before departure, and where possible, storing their carry-on bag under the seat in front of them
• Providing customers with a personal protection pack including a sealable disposal bag, hand sanitising gel and an antibacterial wipe

The airline is cleaning all key surfaces including seats, screens, seat buckles and tray tables after every flight and each aircraft is completely cleaned from nose to tail every day.

The air on all British Airways flights is fully recycled once every two to three minutes through HEPA filters, which remove microscopic bacteria and virus clusters with over 99.9 per cent efficiency, equivalent to hospital operating theatre standards.

The Maldives reopened its borders on July 15.

With the border reopening, 30-day free on-arrival visa is issued to all tourists with a confirmed booking for a stay at any registered tourist facility in the country.

There is no mandatory quarantine or testing on arrival, but tourists have to complete an online health declaration form and provide a negative PCR test result taken at least 96 hours prior to their departure.

Visitors with symptoms of the Covid-19 respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus or those travelling with someone who has similar symptoms are also tested at their own expense.