Malé, Maldives – Villa Air has announced that they are in the final stages of starting a flying school in Maldives.
Speaking to local news outlet ‘Sun’, Managing Director of Villa Air, Abdulla Nashid told that they had submitted their letter of interest to Civil Aviation Authority and that they were working on the preparations for the school in ADh. Maamigili Airport.
Nashid also told that they were establishing the training facilities and making the hangers needed to keep the training flights at the Maamigili Airport which is run by Villa Air. He also told that they had finished compiling the flying schools manual and that it would be sent to Civil Aviation Authority by next month.
According to Villa Air, the flying school will be run jointly with Villa College in order to develop more people in ‘High Professional Skills’ fields as there is a high demand for it in the Maldives. MD Nashid also said that aviation industry was highly important for the Maldivian tourism sector due to the geographical nature of Maldives and that it was equally important to train people in the field.
Villa Airs flying school comes while the only flying school in Maldives, Asian Academy of Aeronautics (AAA), commonly referred to as the Addu Flying school in Addu City has come under criticism for their mismanagement.
Over the past months, several complaints from the students of the Flying School have caught the attention of many people and the government as well. Some of these complaints include of taking excessive school fees from the students, extending the duration of the courses and not conducted required classes on time as well.
As the issues escalated, Parliamentary Committee on National Development and Heritage intervened in the matter and complied a report which was passed by Parliament on February 23, 2021.
The report mandates the government to take the financial compensation from AAA and to give to the students for neglecting their rights and for the financial burdens which they had to go through due to the mismanagement of the flying school. The report also states for the relevant authorities who were responsible for overseeing the school to be held accountable and the necessary authorities to take action against them.
Villa Air, a subsidiary company of Villa Group and began operations on 1 October 2011, with just one aircraft ATR-42 500 mainly operating between Velana International Airport, Villa International Airport and Dharavandhoo Domestic Airport serving both local and foreign traffic within Maldives. Flyme operates scheduled flights within Maldives with a fleet of 2 ATR-72 500’s and one ATR-72 600. Commercially known as FlyMe became the first operator of an ATR -600 series aircraft in the archipelago. The airline uses its ATR 72-600 aircraft to serve the route between the Maldives and Sri Lanka as well.
