Ministry of Transport revokes AAA Head of Training Suranjan De Silva’s license

Capt. Suranjan De Silva, Head of Training , AAA | Photo: via Twitter

Malé, Maldives – The Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation has removed the license of Addu Aeronautical Academy (AAA)’s Head of Training Suranjan De Silva effective 23 May 2021.

In their statement, the Ministry of Transport explain that the license was cancelled due to lack of accountability by the management in solving issues faced by the school and supporting the students complete their course, indefinitely prolonging the duration of their study.

The Transport Ministry also warns that if the school fails to take timely action, they will remove the license issued to AAA’s Accountable Manager Ali Akbar Jeevanji.

While the agreement between AAA and Gan International Airport is to expire this July, all operations at the flying school have come to a halt since the 11 May 2021, with no operable aircrafts. The engineers at the facility have also resigned and departed to their countries over issues in their salary. The school has not yet informed any of the students when an aircraft at the location will be operable or when an engineer will join the school at the earliest.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has made decisions regarding some of the issues of Asian Academy of Aeronautics (AAA).

The President has ordered to,

  • Investigate the Head of Pilot training and the accountable manager as per the problems noted in the audit by the Civil Aviation Authority.
  • The Civil Aviation Authority for neglect, due to the delay in solving the AAA issues through an independent commission.
  • Transfer the student loans taken from Bank of Maldives to Ministry of Higher Education due to increasing interests.

The AAA student union has previously called out various government authorities and the parliament for their inaction in May. They said that the Gender Ministry was informed of the flying school harassing its students 3 months ago with no action being taken. While Education Minister Dr. Ibrahim Hassan promised that AAA students will be provided the opportunity to continue their education abroad, Transport Minister Aishath Nahula pledged to take action against the school for negligence towards the students, with no action being taken since by either ministry. Similarly, the parliament released a report on the problems faced with no follow up action.

AAA has been facing a series of problems for over a year. While government and parliament made promises to solve these issues, there has been no actionable solutions.

Students of AAA are now looking at legal options while MP Rozaina Adam of Addu Meedhoo Constituency urged the students to file a lawsuit and get compensation from the school.