The Island Aviation Services, and by extension its airline Maldivian, has refuted reports of providing airfare to candidates running for the parliament, on credit. 

Island Aviation Managing Director Mohamed Rizvi said that the company has not provided tickets or covered airfare for,  ‘any candidate or party’. 

In a tweet on Thursday, Rizvi said that this is the case since President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih assumed office in November of last year. 

Rizvi further said that the company had done so during former president Abdulla Yameen’s bid for re-election, and that they are ‘still recovering from debts incurred by the previous government’.

The former president’s party had chartered flights from the company to carry supporters to its rallies in the capital city and out lying islands.

The Civil Court has ordered the Progressive Party of Maldives to pay a sum of MVR 3.8 million to the Island Aviation Services.