Article of Dealings of Director and Company from today's Courier Mail
Very interesting reading.....
I hope I have quoted this correctly...
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Questionable deals linger over SkyAirWorld
THE wreckage of failed airline start-up ventures litter Australia's corporate landscape.
Brisbane-based SkyAirWorld joined the graveyard in late April when creditors who are owed up to $80 million voted unanimously to liquidate the regional carrier after less than two years of operation.
About 150 employees lost their jobs and many allege that superannuation and other entitlements went unpaid for up to a year. More than 420 unsecured creditors are unlikely to recover any money and it remains unclear how much can be salvaged from asset sales.
The airline, which had five leased jets servicing regional Queensland and the Solomon Islands, appears to have been a disaster from its take-off in May 2007. It never turned a profit and, instead, piled up trading losses of nearly $35 million.
The story might have ended there. But liquidator Peter Lucas hopes to publicly question sole owner and director David Charlton, as well as other key company figures, over a number of potentially questionable financial transactions.
"We're still investigating insolvent trading," Mr Lucas said last week.
In his report to creditors, Mr Lucas outlined concerns that Mr Charlton may have breached his director's duties if it is determined he used SkyAirWorld funds to pay the employees of a related company.
The report also notes Mr Charlton's wealthy father-in-law, Ken Allen, might have served as a "shadow director".
Mr Allen provided nearly $22 million in seed loans for the airline and is the only secured creditor, although his valid charge could amount to just $105,000.
Mr Lucas concluded that a number of related party deals warranted further investigation and at least $850,704 in transactions could be voided if found to be uncommercial.
Among the companies under scrutiny is Joint Logistics, which Mr Charlton started on February 24, less than a month before he appointed Mr Lucas as administrator on March 13.
Even as the airline was fast losing altitude, Mr Charlton struck a deal with the Solomon Islands Government in late December for the lease and development of a 150-room luxury resort on Anuha Island. It is understood that contracts were still being signed eight days before SkyAirWorld fell into administration.
Questions also remain about what happened to the money SkyAirWorld collected from passengers and the Federal Government to service the Christmas and Cocos islands from Perth. Tickets were sold but no flights to those destinations ever eventuated.
The Government announced in January that SkyAirWorld had won the tender to service the islands but critics maintain insufficient due diligence was carried out on the company. Even after the airline grounded three of its jets and sacked 40 staff, the Government still insisted the contract would proceed.
The debacle has provided grist for the Opposition, with Nationals Deputy Leader Nigel Scullion blasting the Government for presiding over an "unmitigated disaster" and a "massive stuff up".
Although Mr Charlton had some aviation background, the failure of the airline suggests he lacked commercial experience.
The 35-year-old Sydney native previously worked as principal of Strategic Aviation, an air charter service used by the military.
Before that, he is believed to have served in the defence forces and been employed by American Express.
Mr Charlton, who could not be contacted last week, lost a substantial amount in the airline's collapse. He has submitted a proof of debt over a $10 million loan made to SkyAirWorld and has acknowledged providing numerous personal guarantees to creditors.
The family home in Brisbane is also on the market. The property, in the inner city suburb of Hawthorne, was bought for $1.43 million in mid-2007 and is registered in the name of his wife, Katherine.
Mr Lucas found that multiple factors contributed to the airline's demise, including inadequate pricing of tickets.
"Already with a high level of debt, challenging macro economic environment, unsuccessful attempts to secure new business, declining demand and some evidence of delinquent customers, it simply did not respond fast enough to its deteriorating financial performance and position," Mr Lucas wrote in his report.
"In my opinion, management should have taken a more aggressive and wider-ranging cost reduction strategy on the company's cost base and at an earlier point in time, reviewed its pricing, minimised business development expenditure and further reduced aircraft capacity."
A former SkyAirWorld employee said the company had deployed inappropriate aircraft, including several Embraer models, for its services to destinations such as Cairns and Honiara. He said the airline would be lucky to get more than 10 passengers on one of the 94-seat planes during the first six months of operation to Honiara and never carried more than 60.
Despite these setbacks, SkyAirWorld was still announcing expansion plans as late as January. That month it secured the right to fly between Darwin and Bali, pledging up to 14 flights a week.
Those ideas, along with an aborted plan last year to team up with Lion Air to fly to Indonesia and other regional destinations, now lie on the ash heap of Australian aviation."