The latest information that I now have is that under terms of the of the contracts signed with our friends AA and the UN they should have had all aircraft in place and ready to go by midnight last night.
So far they have 2 Kingairs in Angola ready for inspection without paperwork, and a small problem with import duties and insurance costs. Perhaps Polly should have done his homework more thoroughly on operating costs and conditions.
they have another aircraft in position in Pakistan, however this is a Kenyan aircraft and crew, now would this mean they have the necessary permissions from the Kenyan authorities to operated on their operating certificate out of the country ?? I did think AA was a Danish company ? perhaps I am wrong here, but last time I looked they were.
Perhaps we should also look closely at the insurance implications should they not have the aircraft on their operating certificate. How many of the organisations flying with them would be happy to find out in the event of an incident, that their personel were covered for zip. Kenyan or French register, its not Danish no matter how you look at it.
As for the remaining aircraft, are they to be pulled from the proverbial magicians hat or are they still sitting on the ground at home base ?
I think maybe some interesting times are at hand, not only do they use unfair business practices to gain contracts , they are now not even sticking to the basic conditions outlined in the UN's contracts, Aircraft to be positioned at a given time to be able to take over from the existing operator. All aircraft to be on the same operating certificate. (this was a condition insisted on by the UN on a recent contract, where the operator had to replace several aircraft ).
Are we now going to see the UN as the toothless dinosaur it is, or are we going to be surprised and see them use the teeth they possess, or maybe just ask George Junior to put an addendum to the state of the union address to include "rogue operators".
