Parliament tells Maldivian to cut costs and boost profits

The parliament of the Maldives will soon be instructing Island Aviation Services, the company that manages the archipelagic country’s national airline Maldivian (Q2, Malé), to make several amendments to cut costs and expand profitability, the Sun online news site reported on October 20. The parliament passed, with a vote of 54 out of its 87 members, a report on the holding company that had been prepared by the 13-member Committee on State-Owned Enterprises. The report advised amending the company’s operational activities, one of the instructions being the “immediate expansion of seaplane operations” to boost profits. As reported earlier this month, Maldivian is preparing to expand its seaplane operations to connect four southern atolls in the archipelago, linking Addu City, Fuvahmulah City, Gaafu Alifu Atoll, and Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Maldivian currently operates ten of its own DHC-6-300 seaplanes and leases an eleventh from Unity Group. Its seaplane operations started in 2014. It also operates one A320-200, one A321-200, one DHC-8-200, one DHC-8-Q200, and eight DHC-8-Q300s. Other directions are the formation of a long-term plan for the company, recruitment only for necessary positions, a risk assessment of the enterprise, a revision of its procurement policy, and implementing a sustainable debt management plan. The committee has also reviewed cases of senior Island Aviation Services officials allegedly “collecting extra increments.”