INTERVIEW - Captain David Savy-“Do not embroil Air Seychelles in political agendas” |08 July 2006

Seychelles Nation : Captain Savy, there has been some speculations in Mauritian newspapers on the commercial agreements between Air Mauritius and Air Seychelles. Could you clarify the matter?

Air Mauritius and Air Seychelles have had a number of commercial agreements and memorandum of understanding (MOU) dating as far back as the late 80’s and signed by past and current chairmans and CEOs of both airlines.

Air Mauritius has operated Air Seychelles scheduled flights in a similar fashion as Air Seychelles is operating part of its capacity on behalf of Air Mauritius on the London-Heathrow route. This was in effect on the Singapore route using an Air Mauritius B767-200ER and on Mumbai using the Air Mauritius B767.

Air Mauritius and Air Seychelles currently have a code share agreement on the Mauritius – Seychelles route which commenced in November 1997 after the withdrawal of British Airways and Air France on that route.

The current MOU on the London-Heathrow route was initially signed on 6th November 2004 by the then managing director of Air Mauritius , Mr Megh Pillay and myself. The main agreement was signed on 18th April 2005.

On 6th January 2006, an amendment to the main agreement was made whereas the agreement was to be extended to end of March 2007.The terms of the agreement was altered whereas the number of seats allocated to Air Mauritius was reduced by 20%..

This was signed by the current managing director of Air Mauritius, Mr Nirvan Veerasamy and his chief marketing executive, Mr Indradev Buton, Air Seychelles’ director for corporate strategy & planning, Dr Rajiv Bissessur and myself.

Seychelles Nation : A lot has been said about the Veling company through implications of a conflict of interest where both you and Mr Veersamy are mentioned as directors of the company which negotiated the transfer of  lease  of Air Seychelles’ B737 to Air Sahara. Could you explain this?

Veling was created sometime in 2002 and is a leasing company primarily. I was incorporated on the board of Veling as a non-remunerated director on 10th November 2005 and therefore am not a founding member as being freely stated. I accepted on behalf of Air Seychelles’ in recognition of the support its chairman, Mr Uday Nayak gave our airline in its hour of need.

Furthermore at the time I was incorporated on the board, Mr Veerasamy was no longer a director of Veling.

I was invited to join the board of Veling by its chairman & managing director, Mr Uday Nayak, who is along time associate of Air Seychelles. Mr Nayak has been associated with Air Seychelles as far back as 1995 , when he had been appointed by the then chairman of Air Seychelles as a representative/consultant fro Air Seychelles.

I was appointed chief executive of Air Seychelles in 1997. Our financial records can testify that from that moment till date, Air Seychelles’ has made no payment for services to Mr Nayak or Veling whatsoever. Mr Nayak assisted us by way of introduction to Air Sahara back in early 2005 when we were looking for a new home for our sole B737-700.

Veling works extensively with Air Sahara. Veling agreed to waive the fee of around USD600,000 given that Air Seychelles’ was facing a crisis and was down-sizing. Mr Nayak kindly agreed given his very long standing links with Air Seychelles.

In recognition, Veling was given 50 complimentary tickets to be used within a specified period of time. As of today only 20 tickets have been used. This is covered in a formal trade exchange agreement as specified by our financial procedures. This agreement (VL/CCE-25/2005) was signed on 13th April 2005 and is valid for two years thus ending on 13th April 2007.

Seychelles Nation : What advantage is it to HM  of you being a board member of Veling?

Veling felt that having a well known figure in aviation circles on their board would be added value to their business. I gladly accepted on condition of non-remuneration and also as a gesture of deep gratitude for what had been done for Air Seychelles in our time of need.

Furthermore it gives me a better insight as to how the leasing market works from the perspective of a lessor. This has been a great advantage when negotiating leases for Air Seychelles with other parties. The proof is the excellent leases we recently signed on the B787 Dreamliners with ILFC.

Seychelles would be a clear winner if more Seychellois would be represented on boards of international organizations and businesses. I also sit on the board of New Mauritius Hotels ( Beachcomber), a public listed company and largest hotel chain in the Indian Ocean. It has helped to bring their investment here in Seychelles. Is this good or bad?

Seychelles Nation : The speculations raised in the Mauritian press spoke of friendly relations between you and Mr Veerasamy which could have been a factor to trigger off the Veling issue. What are your comments on this?

I met Mr Veerasamy for the first time a few months prior to his appointment as managing director of Air Mauritius which was sometime in July or August 2005.
I categorically state that we share no business interests apart from those conducted on behalf of our respective airlines.

Seychelles Nation : Finally, Captain Savy , how do you personally take this whole issue of Veling and commercial relations between Air Mauritius and Air Seychelles amidst all that has been said in the Mauritian media?

I feel that Air Seychelles and I as its chairman and chief executive have been done gross injustice which will have far reaching consequences which will not be taken lightly. We fail to see the conflict of interest in all instances.

The business affairs between Air Mauritius and Air Seychelles have always been legitimate and vilifying it , is detrimental to our business interests and good bilateral relationship that both airlines have nurtured over decades.

The nature of  this business is as such that we rely heavily on the goodwill of the trade and tour operators.

Through this type of irresponsible behaviour and loose accusations, seeds of doubt have been implanted.

Had Air Seychelles not struck this deal with Air Mauritius, we would have to return one B767 instead of the B737. This would have meant a major down-sizing exercise with job losses across the board in Air Seychelles.

It is irresponsible to embroil national airlines in what is purely politically motivated agendas. Today Air Mauritius is a victim resulting from political wrangling.

Air Mauritius is facing harsh competition with the liberalization of air access and its profits have plummeted. It is irresponsible to drag Air Seychelles and I into a non-issue given that there has been no wrong doing whatsoever.

The Air Seychelles/Air Mauritius agreement is a good one for both our airlines and politics should be kept out of commercial airline business.

As CEO of Air Seychelles, I will continue to work in the interest of our national airline and I also take this opportunity to remind politicians in particular that many African airlines no longer exist today because they have become targets of irresponsible politics.

Destabilising Air Seychelles is certainly not in our national interest nor that of our employees.

Let us be reminded that in the whole of the sub-Sahara Africa there are only five viable long-haul airlines. Air Seychelles is one of them. Let us keep it that way.

Seychelles Nation : Thank you, Captain Savy