THIS newspaper has received reliable information that our country is on the point of being blacklisted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for not meeting the required standard and norm of aviation as required by the UN body.
If this happens it would mean the collapse of the tourism industry and the Seychelles economy as Air Seychelles would not be allowed to land in other countries and other countries' airlines would not be allowed to land in Seychelles. To remedy the situation the President of the Republic would have to appear in person in front of the UN body to reassure the international community of actions that have been taken to remedy the situation before the ban can be lifted.
Inside the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) last week, there were frantic activities to prepare for the worse when this story becomes public. This is because despite consecutive annual audits by the UN body pointing out severe shortcomings of the civil aviation service inside Seychelles, no one has been able to remedy the situation because one airline, it appears, operates outside the law. It is the conduct of this airline which has caused our country to be placed on a temporary blacklist by the ICAO with the warning that severe action may be taken soon against Seychelles.
The international Air Transport Organisation (ICAO) regulates commercial aviation in member countries of the UN. ICAO has its headquarters in Montreal Canada. The ICAO was formed in 1947 and its membership currently stands at 190 members. Seychelles became a member in 1972 soon after the international airport was opened.
It is an agency of the United Nations which codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth. The ICAO should not be confused with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade organisation for airlines also headquartered in Montreal.
The ICAO regulates commercial air transportation and here in Seychelles this involves Air Seychelles, IDC, Zil Air and Helicopter Seychelles. It is interesting to note that apart from, Helicopter Seychelles, which belongs to a naturalised South African businessman, the other air transport companies are run by one of the sons of the former first lady of Seychelles.
Air Seychelles is run by David Savy, a pilot. IDC is run by Glenny Savy, since time immemorial and Zil Air is run by the youngest of the Savy brothers Francis.
Audits by ICAO are carried out each year to establish compliance with the rules and regulations of the Organisation. It appears that here in Seychelles we have been struggling to match up to the required standards in the last few years on account of the activities of the IDC aviation services. IDC operates an aircraft on a commercial basis and even flies outside the Seychelles to other countries in the region. It is these activities that are not meeting the appropriate standards and norms established by ICAO. This has resulted, according to our information, in the IDC aircraft not being allowed to land in certain other countries.
Unless action is taken to bring the IDC operation in line with ICAO norms, our country risks being struck off the membership list of ICAO. This would have severe consequences for Seychelles. The worst case scenario could mean Air Seychelles being prevented from landing in other countries while other countries' airlines would deem it unsafe to come to Seychelles.
For some time now, this newspaper has called on the President of the Republic to rescind the appointment of David Savy from the board of the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Savy's position as Chairman of Air Seychelles is a clear conflict of interest with the objectives of this government’s organisation responsible for the regulation and development of civil aviation in Seychelles, and damaging to the image of our country as a clean jurisdiction untainted by corruption. Is this why the CAA cannot take action against IDC?