Mega Maldives Air (Malé) has officially announced it will suspend all commercial flight operations with effect from Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
In a statement, the Maldivian operator said the move was part of its restructuring and recapitalization efforts which began last year. As part of the plan, Mega Maldives will pursue what it termed, "new investments", which will bring about changes to its ownership structure.
“We are well aware of our customer and tourism stakeholder expectations of us," George Weinmann, CEO, said. "The Board of Directors and Executive team felt that it was necessary to focus on the restructuring and improving our product and service. We will look forward to returning to flying very soon with a renewed fleet that can service established, under-served and emerging markets.”
As such, while no flights will operate for the duration of its dormancy, the company's other management and administrative functions will continue as before.
Mega Maldives operates a single B767-300(ER), leased from AerCap, but has supplemented its operations with occasional B737 and B767 wet-leases.
The carrier has been especially vulnerable to fluctuations in the Chinese tourism market given the only two remaining cities it connects its Malé hub to are Shanghai Pudong and Beijing Capital.
