The Maldives welcomes you to a tropical paradise­ of palm trees, white sandy beaches,­ sparkling clear, warm water in­ turquoise lagoons and colourful coral reefs teeming with abundant marine life.

Vilamendhoo Island Resort, surrounded by a beautiful lagoon, an excellent house reef and long stretches of white, sandy beach, is the only Resort of Vilamendhoo, South Ari Atoll. It is 900 meters long by 250 meters wide, about 55 acres. Your seaplane transfer from Velana International Airport is a scenic, 25 minute flight.

Seaplane Transfer Policy

Trans Maldivian Airways (TMA) provides seaplane transfers to and from the TMA Terminal located at Velana International Airport (Male’ International Airport). The flights are scheduled to coincide with the arrival and departure of international flights. The seaplane transfer time from the TMA Terminal to Vilamendhoo Island Resort & Spa is a scenic 25 minutes.

Typically, upon arrival in the Maldives, after clearing Immigration and Customs, the guest will exit the Customs area and enter the Arrivals Hall, proceed to the nearby TMA Seaplane Check-In Counter on the right-hand side. After seaplane check-in the guest is transferred by bus, from the International Arrival Terminal to the TMA Seaplane Lounge, around 10-minutes away. The guest will wait in the Vilamendhoo lounge area for their scheduled seaplane transfer to Vilamendhoo. The seaplane to Vilamendhoo is normally scheduled to depart within one to two hours of all guests clearing Immigration and Customs.

In rare instances, such as international flight arrival delays or if a baggage claim form must be completed, the wait would usually be extended. In these instance Vilamndhoo works with TMA to ensure guests fly at the earliest possible time. If a guest has to wait for more than two hours, TMA provides sandwiches and in very rare instances, if delays are over four hours, a hot meal is served.

Guests arriving on an international flight which cannot connect to the last seaplane of the day to Vilamendhoo (usually departs no later than about 16h00) may choose to overnight in nearby Male’ at the Champa Central Hotel, or elsewhere. Guest’s local handling agents can also be of assistance in such instances.

• Seaplanes only fly during daylight hours, i.e. between about 6h00 and 18h00.
• International airline policy requires passengers to check-in no later than 2 hours before flight time, therefore a guest can connect to international flights departing Velana International Airport only after 9h00.
• The last flight departure from Vilamendhoo is around 16h00.

The seaplane allowance for checked-in luggage is 20 kg while carry-on luggage is 5 kg per person, above which there will be an excess charge of US$5.00 per kg (subject to 12% GST). In extraordinary circumstances, luggage may be transported by a later flight (as per safety regulations and TMA policies & procedures).