Island Aviation Services (IAS), the company that owns the country’s national carrier Maldivian has reported a loss of around $7.14 million this year, Sun news reported. 

Data released by the Privatization and Corporatization Board (PCB), which oversees the state-owned companies, said the loss of IAS has in fact increased to a whopping 780 percent this year. In 2019, the company had reported a loss of $811,825 which has increased to $7.14 million in 2020. 

A report by the PCB blamed the multifold increasing in loss to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it affected the company’s businesses and operations to a great extent. The aviation industry had come to a halt after the countries around the world imposed the global lockdown in March this year. 

Even in the first quarter, IAS reported a loss, $1.57 million, which was twice what it recorded in the whole of 2019. And in the second quarter, the losses increased multi-fold due to closure of operations.  

The income from the operations of seaplanes also dipped and recorded a decline of $16.69 million this year.

The report by the PCB stated all state-owned companies recorded a combined income loss of around 86 percent in 2020.