Premium airline Beond retracts a claim it made in which the airline said that the Maldivian government had granted national carrier status to the airline.
In an interview with CNN's Richard Quest, CEO of Beond Tero Taskila acknowledged that the Maldivian government had given the airline national carrier status. He went on to say that with the national carrier status, Beond can access Maldivian bilateral treaties which would allow them to operate in 80 countries around the world.
Taskila said that this would further allow the airline to grow and introduce non-stop services where it would have a monopoly position.
He further said that these bilaterals would allow competing airlines from the other end to operate in the Maldives.
Government Refutes
But the Maldivian government was quick to squash this claim saying that no new airline has been given the license to operate in the Maldives. An official at the Transport Ministry said to 'The Press that the Maldivian Civil Aviation Authority has not granted any new Air Operator’s certificates (AOC) to any new airlines.
The official said that BEOND has sought a letter of no objection for the process of obtaining an AOC and that the process is ongoing it’s still not a registered airline in the Maldives.
The official also added that there’s only one airline with national Carrier status which is Maldivian and will continue to remain so.
Beond Retracts
In the latest update Beond, which recently opened its office in Male', recanted the national carrier status claim in a social media post.
It said that Beond management apologized for the inaccurate terms used to refer to its status in the Maldives. It said that 'Maldivian' is the country's national carrier.
The post further said that Beond has not been granted this status, and no such discussion occurred with any authority.
Beond said that it hopes to continue working in full cooperation with the government, tourism industry, concerned authorities, and all the Maldivian airlines to improve tourism and to better the country's economy.
