Quest Aircraft Company, a Japanese-owned aircraft manufacturer has announced that they are to form a joint venture between Quest parent company Setouchi Holding, Inc and Island Aviation Services Ltd under the name of Sky Atoll Private Limited in order to launch a new seaplane operation in the Maldives. Sky Atoll have placed an initial order of four Kodiak 100s aircrafts to kick-start their operations.
Seaplanes are the primary mode of transport for tourists to travel between resorts and the international airport. Maldives is seeing surplus amounts of resorts being build up every year with coral islands scattered all across the country, the scale of seaplane operations is among the largest in the world and keeps on growing.
Sky Atoll has requested that the Kodiaks being delivered to be fitted with the Aerocet 6750 straight floats which were certified on the aircraft earlier in 2017. The Kodiak 100 is available with either straight or amphibious Aerocet composite floats. It is one of the most stable and fastest sea plans once airborne with a cruising speed of 162 ktas.
Rob Wells, CEO of Quest Aircraft Company said that after a rigorous operational evaluation in the Maldives, they have deemed Kodiak as one of the ideal aircraft for Maldives with its robust construction and short field performance.
Island Aviation Services Limited is owned by the Maldivian government and operations both domestic and International flights/ seaplanes under the Maldivian brand name.
It is an extremely exciting time for the Maldivian aviation industry with several European mega airlines already flying into Velana International Airport for the winter holiday period. This will be the first time a single-engine float operation is being utilized in the Maldives.
