South Coast .... take on UN contracts
I agree, totally naive way to run a business.
I think what normally happens is a company comes across a contract through someone who has a mate in the UN or something similar.
So, the company get the contract, they have a fairly unqualified group of people running their operations office who are now tasked to run the contract.
It is fine until unplanned maintenance is needed, fine until unplanned or even planned time off for the crews is required, basically, the snow ball has started to gather speed.
The low wages they pay the people in the office to manage and run the contracts reflects the level of qualification and experience those they employ have.
It is an age old situation, and this is not disrespectful to anyone.
'You pay peanuts and you get monkeys'
Simple!
Yes, it is a crap way to run a business, but the whole contract scene in SA is rotten, the UN and likes pay huge money for these contracts and there is absolutely no reason why the SA company should not make a good profit and pay their crews a decent salary.
Lets face it, all the directors still drive around in their BMW's and Merc's and 4x4's, oh and lets not forget the conflicts of interest by those concerned, forming consortiums of directors and buying planes which are then leased to the company they work for to go on contract for a fixed number of hours, regardless of how many hours the contract pays.
Oh, and who decides what plane to source and use on contract, the very managers/directors who own the planes.