Island Aviation Services (IAS) which operates national airline 'Maldivian' on Thursday strongly denied reports that a recent rift with some of its pilots was behind the cancellation of one its flights the day before.
'Maldivian' on Wednesday cancelled a scheduled flight to Fuvahmulah city after the assigned pilots reportedly failed to show up.
Reliable sources indicate that the airline had informed passengers of the cancellation after they had arrived at the airport.
IAS official however, denied the reports insisting that the flight was cancelled after the aircraft had failed to make it to the airport which was under maintenance at the time.
The country's main airport is currently undergoing a major revamp which normally takes place at night.
"The issue with the pilots have now been resolved. The flight wasn't cancelled because the pilots didn't show up. The flight was cancelled because the aircraft couldn't make it to the airport in time," the official explained.
The official said the passengers had been informed of the delay and financial compensation had been given for them to arrange accommodation.
The flight has been rescheduled for the same time later Thursday, the official added.
Avas has been able to confirm that several pilots on the Maldivian airline's payroll have been complaining of fatigue after the national airline extended the number of working hours per week from five to seven days.
The agrrieved pilots have singled out the aviation regulator for failing to investigate their claims.
'Maldivian' however refuted the claims saying that "only a handful of pilots" had voiced discontent over the extended work week but none have made their grievances official.
But repeated attempts by Avas to contact Civil Aviation Department have been futile as top officials from the department refused to respond to multiple phone calls and text messages.
Maldives government meanwhile had vowed to devise a system to manage pilot fatigue in the wake of mounting complaints from several national airline 'Maldivian' pilots.
The airline earlier this month had suspended a senior pilot over a leaked audio recording.
Avas Online has received confirmation that the unnamed senior pilot heard from the audio clip - who had presented the case of pilot fatigue issue initially - was ordered to stay home.
The argument sparked when the senior pilot had engaged in a heated exchange over negligence on an email he sent earlier about the issue. The senior official of Maldivian had warned the pilot of suspension if his action was repeated.
