Maldivian, the national airline of country was first started as Island Aviation Services Limited on 13th April 2000 after the bankruptcy of the former national airline Air Maldives. The company is one hundred percent owned by the Government of Maldives. The airline was rebranded as "Maldivian" in the year 2008 shortly after it started its first regional sector to Trivandrum, India. The carrier currently operates out of Male’ International Airport and offers its service to 6 destinations. Maldivian's fleet consists of 2 Dash 8-202s (seats 37pax), 2 Dash 8-315s (seats 50pax) and 1 Dornier 228-212 (seats 16pax). At the moment 3 of the Dash 8's have been painted with the new company livery.
I want to mention a couple of points here, my sole purpose of writing this post is to let you know how your life as a pilot would be in Maldivian. When I joined there was no one to look up for guidance so I thought I'd give the insides just so you won't be in for a surprise, now don't go biting my ass with this information, use it wisely. Personally I would say it's a great place to work for in the long run but I want you to know how it's like so that if you join you know exactly what you're in for. Transparency is the name of the game here. I'll be writing one on TMA and MAT soon, but for now it's going to be Maldivian.
For those pilots who are interested, the company does offer a very few positions to expat pilots who have enough time to fill the left seat of the DHC8. Maldivian's pilots are almost all locals, and you usually start on the right seat of the Dornier 228-212 as a First Officer. It’s a great opportunity for a fresh 250hr pilot if you get hired. The benefits aren’t as much just like any other regional airline but you do get your hours clocked up pretty fast and if you put up a good performance you're looking at the right seat of the Dash 8 in about a year's time. Your road to captaincy from then on would usually take about 2 to 4 years depending on your individual performance and slot availability. When the bell rings for your upgrade you can either end up on the left seat of the DO228 or even the left seat of the DHC8 but once again it all depends on your performance and slot availability.
As I mentioned earlier you aren’t exactly entitled for much benefits.
-Every pilot gets one free ticket once a year to one of their destinations, and there's a little catch, their free ticket isn’t exactly free because you do have to pay some amount of taxes.
-If you're a Captain you do get a sweet paid leave of 30 days excluding public holidays per year so you're actually looking at about 36 days.
-The company does offer a fairly good health insurance package and of course they pay for your annual medical renewals too.
-F/Os are entitled for the same amount of leave days but half their normal pay.
Now let's talk about the real deal, firstly the figures I've mentioned here are approximates and not exact values.
-Starting take home pay for a Captain on the DO228 is RF 39,500 with annual pay increments.
-Starting take home pay for a F/O on the DO228 is RF 15,500 with no increments for seniority.
-Starting take home pay for a Captain on the DHC8 is RF 52,500 with annual pay increments.
-Starting take home pay for a F/O on the DHC8 is RF 24,500 with no increments for seniority.
As for the bond period juniors, it's going to be a 5 year training bond for your initial Dornier 228-212 rating they're going to give you and I'm not going to disclose how much money they bond you for.
When you hop onto the right seat of the Dash 8 it's again a 5 year training bond. The clock in the training bond starts ticking from the day you get released for your first line flight. If you don't have plans to stay in the company for at least 6 to 7 years my personal advice would be to do yourself and the company a favour and look for your job elsewhere.
Working hours can be long so be prepared for that too. Your typical work day can be as short as 4 hours or as long as 13 hours depending on the number of flights you get assigned for. Night stops are a part of the duty too. Maldivian does one night stop at Gan International and one at Hanimaadhoo Airport every night, so the chances of you having to do a couple every month is pretty high. The company does provide you with an accommodation but it really isn’t your dream holiday getaway. Each pilot gets a food allowance per working day and how or where you buy your food with that money is your own business, all I’m saying is you have to be able to run on low blood sugar at times.
Now let's look at the bright side. The point you have to note here is the company does not offer a lot of benefits for their pilots like most airlines but they do pay you decent when you start gaining experience. During the low season when the monthly flying hours isn’t as much, which is basically from March till September, and you can spend a lot of time at home then. You won’t need to report for duty unless you have a flight so you can utilize your standby days however you may please unless they call you up.
Life may be crappy as an F/O because they know you're expendable at that point, but as soon as you start clocking your flying hours up by a couple of thousands your set of cards starts to look better. The company does pay its Captains a fairly decent pay from which you can easily afford a good life. As for the workload, Maldivian does have a lighter workload compared to both TMA and MAT. When you're on the DHC8, you do have the comfort of working in an air-conditioned flight deck unlike at TMA or MAT, and believe me you do need it under the hot weather we have here in the tropics. The DHC8 is EFIS equipped so you're getting some good turbine hours in an EFIS equipped, pressurised aircraft. If you’re ever planning on moving on to the bigger jets these hours are going to be much more valuable than the float hours you’ll get in TMA or MAT. So boys, think it all through and make your decisions wisely.
