India-Maldives row: Domestic airlines may stop flying to island nation, sought after tourist destination

New Delhi: Amid the India-Maldives row, full service carrier Vistara on Monday said it will monitor the demand for flights between the two countries as the "situation is evolving right now".

Vistara operates one flight each daily from Mumbai and Delhi to Male.

Airline's Chief Commercial Officer Deepak Rajawat said it has not cancelled anything as of now and will monitor the demand for flights.

"The situation is very evolving right now... we will have to monitor in a week or so," he said at a briefing in response to queries about the Maldives situation.

Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet also operate flights to the Maldives. There were no comments from the three airlines on the current situation.

India has conveyed its strong concerns to Maldives over remarks posted on social media against Prime Minister Narendra Modi by a number of ministers of that country.

The disparaging remarks by the ministers have drawn flak in India, with many celebrities urging people on X to explore domestic tourist destinations instead of going to the Maldives.

There were also posts on social media claiming that some Indians are cancelling their scheduled trip to the Maldives in view of the row.

On Sunday, the government of the Maldives suspended three deputy ministers for derogatory social media posts against Modi.

The three deputy ministers criticised Modi for his post on 'X' following his visit to Lakshadweep, inferring that it was an attempt to project the Union Territory as an alternative tourist destination to the Maldives.