New Delhi, Nov. 6: The Maldives has asked India for "fifth freedom" rights so that a new Male-Delhi flight to be launched by private airline Mega Maldives from the middle of this month can be extended to Dhaka.

Fifth freedom rights allow an airline to carry passengers from its own country to a second country and from there to a third (and so on) as long as the flight originates or ends in the airline's home country.

"The Delhi-Dhaka route is highly underserved and we foresee a huge growth potential on this route," said George Weinmann, founder and chief executive officer of Mega Maldives Airline.

He said the airline was also in talks with a couple of domestic airlines for a codeshare agreement to provide a wider domestic connectivity to its passengers.

Mega Maldives, which is starting its thrice-a-week Male-Delhi flight on November 14, will also launch a Male-Mumbai flight within the next few weeks. "The Male-Mumbai would fly twice a week and we are also looking at flights from cities in southern India to Jeddah and Medina," Weinmann added.

Flights to Jeddah and Medina from India will cater primarily to Haj pilgrims.

India is a fast-growing source market for Maldives's tourism sector, with the number of Indian visitors rising 22 per cent to 35,000 in the first eight months of 2016. India now accounts for almost 5 per cent of total visitors to the Maldives.

At present, there are no non-stop services from Male to New Delhi, although Sri Lankan and the two Indian airlines serving the Maldives market - Air India and SpiceJet - offer competitive one-stop flights.

SpiceJet serves Male from Kochi, while Air India serves Male from Bangalore and Trivandrum. The other international airline based in the Maldives - the government-owned Maldivian - also serves Trivandrum along with Chennai.

Maldivian accounts for approximately 37 per cent of the Maldives-India seat capacity compared with 48 per cent for Air India and 15 per cent for SpiceJet.

"We want to focus on cities that are not already served," said Weinmann.

Historically, south India is a major destination for the outbound traffic from the Maldives. Maldivians often visit southern India for shopping, universities and medical facilities.

However, lately, India is starting to emerge as a big inbound market. A large share of the inbound traffic is generated from cities in central and northern India, analysts said.