In the National Assembly Two Seychellois to take the helm of Air Seychelles By Elsie Pointe |23 June 2021
The top two management posts of chief executive officer and chief financial officer of Air Seychelles will be occupied by Seychellois as from July 1, 2021
The government has taken the decision to appoint two Seychellois in the top two management posts of chief executive officer and chief financial officer of Air Seychelles as from July 1, 2021.
Their appointments will be undertaken by the board of Air Seychelles based on the recommendations of its shareholder which is the Seychelles government.
Minister for Transport, Antony Derjacques, made this announcement in the National Assembly yesterday morning when he was called in to answer a private notice question tabled by the leader of the opposition, Sebastien Pillay regarding the airline.
Hon. Pillay wanted Minister Derjacques to explain why the government has yet to take a firm stance and decision regarding the national airline and why Air Seychelles’ recently appointed chairman resigned.
He also queried on whether the government is undertaking or plans to undertake a major upheaval in Air Seychelles’ structure that will affect the pilots and cabin crew as well as other staff and whether the LDS government will consider US’ appeal to not terminate Air Seychelles’ international operations.
Minister Derjacques started off by stating that Nane Nanty, a young professional, was appointed as chairman of Air Seychelles on April 11 this year because the government believed and still believes in her capacity and professionalism, but she had to rescind from her post due to medical reasons.
He noted that Ms Nanty is still working with another government company, the Public Utilities Corporation (PUC), as deputy chief financial officer.
“It was regrettable that the president of the US party made some negative comments concerning the young Seychellois lady and this had not helped. Two weeks before she resigned she had to take a sick leave and she had to leave the country to seek health treatment for two weeks. The comments made by the leader of a political party did not help and this makes me believe that the US leaders do not believe in our youths, in our women and in our professionals,” stated Minister Derjacques.
“This government has inherited an Air Seychelles riddled with problems and debts that have accumulated up to more than US $160 million, of which about 142 are just two parties—Etihad Airline and the Etihad bond holders,” he added.
The minister noted that the technicians and professionals working in the present government have taken some objective decisions regarding Air Seychelles such as negotiating and agreeing on a debt reduction on the US $70 million which was owed to the Etihad airline. Instead the Air Seychelles will only have to pay US $11.5 million next year.
The government successfully reached a deal with Etihad to take full ownership of Air Seychelles as the UAE-based airline agreed to relinquish the 40% stake it held, at a steep discount.
Minister Derjacques noted that the government allocated a R104 million in this year’s budget to guarantee the salary of Air Seychelles’ staff from January to September 2021, along with an additional R30 million to support its operations.
“Another key decision is ongoing negotiations with the bond holders in regards to the other debt of more than US $70 million they say Air Seychelles owe these bond holders. This debt is intact and the government is still in negotiations; this debt along with the US $142 million were accumulated in 2015, 2016, 2017 until 2018,” noted the minister.
The cabinet of ministers further approved Air Seychelles’ restructuring plans which it presented in March which was aimed at cutting cost, becoming more efficient, financially viable and able to sustain itself without government funding.
A technical committee consisting of representatives from the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Trade, employment department, Attorney General’s office and Air Seychelles has been set up to analyse the Air Seychelles conundrum and provide their recommendations in the coming months.
“The president is seeking good advice; he wants the advice of all Seychellois and experts. He will not take decisions based solely on politics but objective decisions that will benefit the employees of Air Seychelles and the national interest,” said Minister Derjacques.
“This government has taken and continues to take decisions and will take further decisions in the few months ahead, following these deliberations.”
In regards to Air Seychelles staff, Minister Derjacques reminded the National Assembly that Air Seychelles is facing an economic crisis, similar to most airlines across the globe.
One of the measures Air Seychelles took because it can no longer fly to destinations such as India, South Africa and Mauritius was to cut down on the number of pilots working at the airline.
It had 30 pilots for domestic flights and another 30 for international flights.
Subsequently it made an application to the employment department to make redundant 11 pilots – four international pilots and seven domestic flights – and it will be up to the employment department to make this decision.
“The domestic operations was impacted because there have been fewer people flying between Mahé and Praslin,” explained Minister Derjacques.
Nonetheless Air Seychelles has offered these pilots other employment opportunities within Air Seychelles.
In regards to US’ propositions on Air Seychelles, Minister Derjacques stated that Air Seychelles cannot adhere to US’ stance that restricting should be undertaken without any Seychellois losing their job since it is logical for someone to lose their employment if there is no work in that domain available.
“When there are no flights available for pilots they have to take up another line of work and come back as a pilot in the future when work picks up. Air Seychelles have guaranteed their licenses for a year while they work with the airline in another capacity and will assist them later with their licenses.”
The minister noted that US and the present government are in agreement that cost cutting measures are necessary within Air Seychelles but disagreed with US’ stance that the new administration must take responsibility for years of Air Seychelles bashing which has led to a very confused public regarding the airline.
Minister Derjacques replied that, if anything, it is the previous US administration that has mismanaged Air Seychelles and allowed it to accumulate so much debt.
Minister Derjacques stated that he was puzzled as to what happened to the sum of R2.5 billion or US $142 million which was supposed to be managed by the government and Air Seychelles between 2016 and 2018 since there is no record at the finance ministry as to what was achieved with this money.
“The people of Seychelles will have to ask what happened with R2.5 billion. When I started work at my ministry, there was nothing on the computer and no files in the office of the minister. It is only now that the transport and finance ministries are asking questions, looking for records, trying to identify on what exactly this money was spent and who spent it,” said the minister.
“There was a system in place as well in which Etihad would send their bills that were paid without oversight. This shows that the central government was extremely negligent, and the US government mismanaged Air Seychelles and the people of Seychelles have lost US $142 million,” the minister said.