28 August 2010

Air Maldives Calendar '94

Just written a piece for the first edition of Maldivian's new inflight Magazine. Here's a preview of the best bit. Six air hostesses sitting on the wings of an aeroplane.

Before Island Aviation Services was incorporated in 2000, the regional airports were serviced by Air Maldives. Gan on Addu Atoll was the only such airport until the late 1980's when Hanimaadhu on Haa Dhaalu and Kaddhu on Laamu were built. Finally Kaadedhdhoo on Gaaf Dhaalu was opened in 1993. To celebrate this and promote flights to the regional airports, it was decided to make a calendar for 1994 on each airport, incorporating what neighbouring islands had to offer.

As you can imagine, it was no great burden to fly around the country with a small team and six air hostesses, looking for iconic locations and indigenous crafts to photograph. On Kulhudufushi, the capital of Haa Dhaalu, for example, we photographed the still extant skill of making coir rope by hand. On Addu, we found a craftsman of fine model dhonis and also a delightful location along a curving lagoon where a lonely swing had been hung from a leaning palm.

An air hostess interacted with each scenario, though she didn't always look a natural fit in her floor-length bright blue uniform. The design was a dhigu hedhun, which is a national costume introduced in the fifties and now worn mostly for official or ceremonial occasions.

It all seems like another age now. A naive, carefree time before the airline and the tourism business grew up. The pictures here were taken two years before Gan on Addu had its first resort (Ocean Reef, now Equator Village) and fully 15 years before resorts were built around the other regional airports.