The future of grounded national carrier Air Maldives appears further in doubt after the government of the Indian Ocean nation established a new carrier to operate domestic services.
Air Maldives' operations were grounded late in February because of severe financial difficulties. Soon after it was forced to return its two leased Airbus A310s to the manufacturer.
The government has since established a new wholly owned carrier known as Island Aviation Services. The Male-based carrier is operating domestic flights across the Maldives islands using the remainder of Air Maldives' fleet - a single Fairchild Dornier 228 and one Bombardier Dash 8. No international services are being operated.
Air Maldives executives concede that the grounded carrier has no immediate plans for a re-launch of services. The airline is 49%-owned by Malaysian aviation holding company Naluri - the parent of Malaysia Airlines - while the Government of the Maldives holds 51%.
The grounding of the airline and the subsequent return of aircraft to Airbus came after the two shareholders failed to agree on a restructuring.
Air Maldives' downfall came just over six months after it embarked on a major expansion programme covering the planned addition of three leasedA310-300s for use on an ambitious network upgrade that was to have incorporated new routes to London, Paris, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.
Only one of the newly leased aircraft was delivered. It was returned with one A310-200 already in the carrier's fleet.
Source: Airline Business
