Four out of six aircraft in the national airline, Maldivian's fleet are grounded, AVAS has learned.
As the interruptions have come during the peak tourism season, Maldivian faces several challenges due to a lack of capacity. As a result, the airline has been forced to charter aircraft from private parties providing domestic operations to avoid interruption of their services.
When asked regarding the grounded aircraft, the airline's operator, Island Aviation Services' Public Relation Manager Moosa Waseem, said the aircraft were grounded for routine maintenance. He noted that IAS would charter flights from other airlines to continue serving customers as required.
IAS has been facing economic woes over the past, incurring significant losses. According to the financial report publicized by the Privatization Board, the company suffered a loss of MVR 25.3 million during the first quarter of the current year and MVR 99.6 million during the second quarter. However, the 2018 audit report showed the company made MVR 98.7 million in profit after taxes and paid MVR 10 million to the state as dividend. In 2017, the company paid MVR 20 million as dividend.
