Maldives' only private international airline, Mega Maldives on Monday announced the temporary suspension of its operations amid rumours of an imminent sale.
In a statement, the airline announced the temporary suspension of commercial flight operations from Tuesday as part of its "restructuring and recapitalization efforts."
However, the company’s other management and administrative functions will continue as before, the statement said.
“We are well aware of our customer and tourism stakeholder expectations of us. The Board of Directors and Executive team felt that it was necessary to focus on the restructuring and improving our product and service," CEO George Weinmann was quoted in the statement.
"We will look forward to returning to flying very soon with a renewed fleet that can service established, under-served and emerging markets."
'Avas' had been able to confirm that major businesses involved in the Maldivian market have expressed interest in purchasing the majority stake in Mega Maldives.
According to a source closely associated with the deal, an official announcement regarding the deal will be made very soon. This new development will also bring about many changes to how the shares work within the company, according to the same source.
Mega Maldives had earlier last year been forced to undergo a major downsize after reporting major losses. However, most of the employees had been later hired back after the airline's financial situation improved.
No official word has been received from the company regarding the rumors over the imminent sale.
Mega Maldives is an important contributor to Maldivian tourism, bringing in a large amount of tourists to Maldives every year. Mega Maldives employees a large number of locals in their workforce.
The company started with a joint Maldivian and American initiative has been in service for five years, with a fleet of five airplanes.
