Board members appointed to Regional Airports Company after 3-month wait

Board members have been appointed to the Regional Airports Company Limited - a new company established under executive order of the President to manage regional airports in Maldives.

Regional Airports Company was established under executive order on September 30 last year. The appointment of Board members came three months later, on January 3.

The Managing Director of Regional Airports Company is Mohamed Rizvi, who had previously served as Managing Director of Island Aviation – which runs the national airline, Maldivian.

The chairman is Abdul Latheef Qasim, and Mohamed Firzul Hussain Firaz, Mohamed Shafau Hassan, Hussain Shamin and Abdulla Waheed have been appointed as directors.

The number of Board directors of Regional Airports Company is seven, and one director slot remains vacant.

Regional airports in Maldives were previously managed by the Regional Airports Section of Transport Ministry.

A charter for the transfer of assets and employees of the Regional Airports Section to the Regional Airports Company was released this Wednesday.

According to the charter, all work under the management of the Regional Airports Section, all regional airports under the management of Regional Airports Section as well as all resources, assets, employees, agreements and other related work of regional airports will be transferred to the new company.

The charter also establishes a guideline to allow employees of the section to transfer to the employment of Regional Airports Company.

During the transition, each employee will be offered new employment contracts by the Regional Airports Company in exchange for the work they did at the Regional Airports Section. Employees who do not wish to transfer to Regional Airports Company have the right to reject the offer, and all employees who accept the offer and transfer to Regional Airports Company will be treated as new employees.

Regional Airports Company is a 100 percent State-owned enterprise with a capital of MVR 2 billion. The limit for shares is 2 million at the rate of MVR 10.

Internal regulations declare the main objectives of Regional Airports Company as:

(a) Managing and operating regional airports in Maldives the company is charged with efficiently, and in accordance with international aviation standards and best practice.

(b) Increasing the operational efficiency of regional airports, acquiring the resources needed to operate the airports efficiently, organizing infrastructure and human resource development projects and developing the airports in accordance with government policies.

(c) Fulfilling the tasks declared as the company’s objectives, and obtaining the funds needed to fulfill the objectives through loans and other financial instruments.

The charter declares that the Board directors will be accountable to shareholders and the government on behalf of the company in matters pertaining to the company’s interests.