Where is Air
This newspaper has finally obtained a copy of the “super secret” report made by the Chairman of Air
The intrigue we had to go through to obtain a copy of Captain Savy's report is a story in itself which will be told at a later date. Suffice to say that it included a clandestine trip to
The report, our readers would be enthused to know, is contained in a glossy book printed in
As things stands, we will not know anything about the financial affairs of the state owned airline for the year ending March 31, 2006 until probably in November when Captain Savy will appear once again on television to give us bits and pieces of selective information. For whatever it is worth, we await any snippets of information with bated breath until the glossy copy could be secretly ferreted out sometime in March 2007.
The report revealed that, while the airline made an operating profit of € 305,000 after tax, it also wrote off € 793,000 of bad debts. But Air
According to the report, Air
Interestingly enough, € 46m is SR 331m using Air
But the most interesting information glimpsed from the glossy copy we have obtained is the salary increase Captain Savy has paid himself during the financial year covered by the report. Captain Savy paid himself the princely sum of SR 445,000 as an annual salary, for the privilege of providing our national airline with his commercial acumen, experience and management skills. This salary matches that of the expatriate MD of Seychelles Breweries and the expatriate CEO of Cable and Wireless. Mr. Savy's salary was almost twice as much as that of the President of the Republic.
But most interestingly during the year in review, Captain Savy paid himself a salary increase of SR28, 000 over the previous financial year. SR 28,000 is equivalent to employing a fish cleaner at IOT or two home-carers for a year. The average wage in
But Captain Savy is not the only one connected with the management of the Airline who got a hefty salary increase last year. The other six members of the company's Board of Directors saw their annual fees rise from SR 1,000 to SR 7,200 per person. Five of the six Board members of the airline were civil servants, which included the Governor of the Central Bank, who was also the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Finance until January this year.
Our national airline and flag carrier, like our country, is operating on a shoe string. Like our country, our airline is steeped in debt to foreigners. But unlike our country it can give back the two long haul aircraft to settle most of its debt.