Routes Online noticed that Air France has added Paris – Male service to its schedule twice a week.

Starting November 1, the Delta partner will operate a 3-class Boeing 777-200ER on the route:

Paris – Male, 8:50pm – 10:20am+1, Air France AF222 (Wednesday/Saturday)
Male – Paris, 1:05pm – 7:35pm, Air France AF223 (Thursday/Sunday)

Park Hyatt Hadahaa Maldives

Air France 772s have their new business class — fully flat with direct aisle access, a similar seat to Cathay Pacific, EVA Air, and American’s Boeing 777-300ERs.

Air France KLM’s Flying Blue program is a transfer partner of Chase, Citibank, and American Express making their miles easy to come by. They’ve just started allowing award bookings by all members through the end of their published schedules, rather than having to wait until 300 days out (this is bad news for Delta members who had a one month head start on Air France flights over Air France’s own members).

Tarmac in Male

For SkyTeam frequent flyers whether using Delta or Air France (or employing a Czech OK Plus strategy) this adds an option beyond China Southern via Guangzhou and Aeroflot via Moscow as well as both the Korean Air with Colombo, Sri Lanka fifth freedom flight and China Eastern ‘s Colombo – Male extension of its Kunming – Colombo service.

China Eastern 737 Boarding in Male Bound for Colombo and Then Kunming

Star Alliance options are Singapore Airlines (Singapore), Turkish Airlines (Istanbul), Austrian (Vienna), Lufthansa (Frankfurt).

Singapore Airlines on the Ground in Male

oneworld service is available on British Airways (London Gatwick), Qatar (Doha), and SriLankan (Colombo).

I’ve flown Singapore, China Eastern, Emirates and Etihad in and out of Male — with Etihad my most frequent choice. Etihad has a wide variety of partners whose miles you can use, including American, Asiana, Alitalia, ANA, Korean and Malaysia meaning you can use American Express points (Alitalia, ANA), Citi (Malaysia), or Chase (Korean) for redemptions.

Emirates flights can be redeemed with, among others, miles from Alaska, Korean, JAL, Qantas and Malaysia Airlines.

Male Arrivals

Flying to Colombo is another good option, it’s less than 500 miles from Male and flights are plentiful and often inexpensive. My business class China Eastern flight was US$90 one-way. Thai Airways serves Colombo from Bangkok, as another Star Alliance option.