President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has stated that discussions about the national airline, Maldivian to collaborate with foreign parties in order to improve their financial situation is ongoing.

While speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, President Solih stated that Island Aviation is a company that has always operated at a loss. He affirmed that the company’s financial state had worsened after the government’s economy had fallen in the course of the pandemic. Therefore, talks about doing a joint venture with certain foreign companies are under way.

Furthermore, the president affirmed that there must be a national airline in the Maldives, especially to continue to establish a domestic travel network as it brings a lot of indirect benefits to the country. President Solih stated that Maldivian must stay afloat even if the government is required to take subsidiaries in discount rates through domestic travel. In addition, President Solih stated that they plan on expanding the services provided by seaplanes.

According to this year’s first quarter’s financial statistics, published by the Privatization and Corporatization Board (PCB) which is an establishment that looks into matters in relation to government companies, Island Aviation faced a loss of MVR 25.3 million. However, when comparing it with 2020’s first quarter, the percentage loss of the company had decreased by 53 percent as their income increased and expenditures were cut down.

As per the financial statistics, the biggest amount of money is spent in paying the salaries and allowances of employees. Therefore, when comparing this expense with last year’s first quarter, the money spent on employees salaries round up to MVR 1.7 million this year.

Maldivian travels to a total of 16 airports in the Maldives. Island Aviation was founded in the year 2000 and the flights that operated under the company were named Maldivian in the year 2008.