Thank you all for your feedback.
As I said, I would like to keep this objective and not get drawn into an argument.
Indeed, many mistakes were made along the way, which is quite normal for a new business. One of our mistakes was the choice of aircraft, but we fixed that very quickly. We also took some wrong hiring decisions, and relied on people that could not deliver. Again, I take the blame as CEO. However, we learnt from those mistakes, and corrected them, and I can proudly say we have an extremely capable and dedicated team of ground and flight instructors at the academy. Anyone who wishes to see their bios can contact me by e-mail and I will be happy to share them.
One minor correction – it is true that Ayla is only two years old (young), but AFT has been in business over 10 years.
With regards to my aviation background, I do not believe you need to be a commercial pilot to run a flight school, just like you don’t need to be a pilot to run an airline. In fact, I find my being an outsider a positive. Needless to say, if anyone knows anyone that is more capable, please submit their resume. I assure you I would be delighted to hand over some of my work load.
With regards to my track record, I ran an investment company in Houston for 15 years. We bought and sold companies, one of which I ran myself, and some of which we still own. Like most people in business, lawsuits are inevitable, and we have had our share; some as plaintiffs, and some as defendants. As correctly pointed out, this is public information, and nothing to be ashamed off. To the best of my knowledge, there are no current pending cases.
I did donate to the George Bush campaign some years ago, and I donated to the Barack Obama campaign recently. I am a US citizen, and I consider it a privilege to be able to contribute and to vote.
Back to Ayla. We are very proud of our track record, albeit only two years old. We are proud to have Royal Jordanian as a customer. We are proud of being approved by Gulf Air, and Oman Air (Bridge Course only for Oman Air – abinitio program still pending). We are proud to have arranged and hosted the first MPL conference in the region, and to have phase I of our MPL program approved.
We have some bold plans for 2009, and I am confident that we will achieve them with our team of dedicated instructors and staff.
Marwan