- Air Maldives
Infobox Airline
airline=Air Maldives
logo_size=160
fleet_size=5
destinations=10
IATA=L6
ICAO=AMI
callsign=AIR MALDIVES
founded=1970
hubs=Malé International Airport
key_people= Fauzi Bin Ayob(MD )
headquarters=Malé ,Maldives
company_slogan=Fly Air Maldives to a dream destinationAir Maldives was the first
airline of theMaldives and the country's nationalflag carrier . It began operating in the 1970s, during Ibrahin Nasir's presidency, with the opening of a runway atHulhulé Airport , close to the capitalMalé . The first airplane flown by Air Maldives was a singleDouglas DC-6 , which flew the route Malé-Colombo .During the beginning of the 1980s the airline was confined to the domestic field. It operated regular flights with a
Short Skyvan between Malé and Gan, inAddu Atoll .The Skyvan was replaced by two
Dornier 228 planes in the late 1980s when two further domestic airports were opened in Hanimaadhu (Haa Dhaalu Atoll) and Kaddhu (Laamu Atoll). During its last phase, in the 1990s, Air Maldives, boosted by a new flow of investment, went international again. Formerly this airline used to be fully owned and controlled by the Maldivian government, but now Air Maldives became a joint venture airline between theMaldivian government, which owned 51 percent, and Naluri Berhad (the majority shareholder ofMalaysian Airlines ), which held the remaining 49 percent.The airline's operations were extended and two
Airbus es were purchased. Air Maldives began operating regular flights toColombo ,Trivandrum andKuala Lumpur among other destinations.Mysterious bankruptcy
By the year 1999 Air Maldives dissolved due to
bankruptcy . The circumstances of the demise of the Maldive national flag carrier were at best obscure and they were never fully publicised. Apparently, officers in high government posts are meant to be protected by this silence.Maldivian people were disappointed and puzzled at the secrecy and the strange and sudden circumstances of the disappearance of their national airline. Explanations were asked in a quite loud and straightforward manner for a country that does not have free press. But all the blame of the bankruptcy was conveniently heaped on a shady Malaysian enterpreneur and public outcry in the Maldives soon died down.yjjtyj
Fleet
*2 Dash-8
Destinations
"'ASIA"'
*
Maldives
**Gan
**Hanimaadhoo
**Kaadeddhoo
**Kaddhoo
*India
**Trivandrum (Trivandrum International Airport )
*Srilanka
**Colombo (Colombo International Airport )
*Thailand
**Bangkok (Don Mueang International Airport )
*South Korea
**Seoul (Incheon International Airport )
*Japan
**Tokyo (Narita Airport )
*United Arab Emirates
**Dubai (Dubai International Airport )EUROPE
*
United Kingdom
**London (London Heathrow Airport )*
France
**Paris (Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport )*
Germany
**Frankfurt
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