Captain Savy broke his silence over Air Seychelles
The former Executive Chairman of Air Seychelles, Captain David Savy has broken his silence over the airline debacle.
In a letter posted on his Facebook wall, Captain Savy confirmed what many were already suspecting: that there were behind the scenes forces working against the national airline’s interest resulting in its downfall.
“Today Air Seychelles and its employees are paying a heavy price and to me the main architects of its fall are strangely silent” he wrote.
Captain Savy admitted that he too, like many of us, is now more anxious than ever to know what will be the outcome of the re-positioning of Air Seychelles and the consequences of this move.
“It is a struggle for me not to be emotive or even angry at times.”
He outlined the chronology of events which he said led to the downfall of the airline. For 13 lucky years, between 1997 until 2010, the Government, he said, did not ever have to bail out Air Seychelles and as such the airline did not receive a single rupee in subvention.
However, back in 2009 he explained that Air Seychelles board warned the Ministry of Finance that the airline would need huge subventions because it had been announced that Emirates, Qatar and Etihad were to be given daily frequencies after a powerful lobby from many in Seychelles especially the trade.
The Ministry’s response according to Captain Savy was to call in three audit companies: (1) a management Audit by PEMD, (2) an audit by Ernst & Young from France requested by the IMF and (3) a specialist Aviation audit by an American firm named GRA.
“The findings were shared with HM staff and GRA confirmed that HM was a well run company and no financial irregularities were discovered by any of those audits,” said Savy.
Because of the IMF program the airline was not to expect any financial help from the government nor allowed to make any borrowings, hence the decision to aggressively seek the Falklands charters in Feb 2010 and then the Mozambique. However, the latter did not materialised. Also as expected the doubled frequencies of Emirates and Qatar resulted in losses and rapid decreasing of Air Seychelles market share.
With the change of the board in December 2010, division started to emerge between certain members of the new board and Captain Savy and his management team, who did not share the same vision on so many issues, primarily the necessity of operating the Falklands charters, resulting in his resignation as chairman of the board.
“Furthermore the interference in the daily affairs of the company including private meetings outside the realms of the board with important suppliers and foreign airlines meant that there was a loss of confidence and remaining would make matters worse,” he says.
He added that certain new board members who had a poor knowledge of how an airline works and operates dismissed figures and information given to them and based decisions on their own interpretation.
“We saw some come on national television to say that key contracts with others had been renegotiated and things would be better!!!!!! Are they?” asks Savy’s letter.
Captain Savy says he believes that President Michel has been led to believe that the changes made in February would have turned around the company and all jobs would remain.
“He has now come under heavy criticism because he was lied to. However it was too late. Air Seychelles has become a political football and the staff are paying the price,” concludes Savy.
Source: Le Seychellois 12-2-11