Coleman Myers
22nd Jan 2005, 13:24
Somebody once told me not to comment on Zimabwe until I understood fully what the operators and crews actually get subjected to there.
Does anyone know who the pilots are and if they secured other work ?.
Subject : Fw: interesting article Re: Re: AVIATION INVESTMENT CAUTION
"Aircraft Leasing represents a small group of
philanthropic venture capitalists seeking to develop
aviation intetests in the emerging markets of the third
world, with particular emphasis on bringing on board
local partnerships. In the long term, the local
partners take over businesses without the heavily
establishment capital investment, by way of lease
purchase from Aircraft Leasing Capital.
Recently certain group members underwrote a start-up
air ambulance project, in Harare, Zimbabwe. This was to
be the first time that a local Zimbabwean had fully
controlled a service that had for many years been
performed by foreigners, both operationally and
financially, with little or no long term benefit for
the Zimbabwean aviation industry.
The project got off to a good start by securing the
lease of two very suitable aircraft with a back-up
third aircraft where required. Two of the aircraft were
locally registered, creating an excellent opportunity
for employment of local pilots and engineers.
The viability study showed that with the current
depressed tourism and investment situation in Zimbabwe,
pilots and engineers were seeking employment abroad,
haemorraging the expertise base.
The third and principal aircraft was Kenyan registered,
but the Zimbabwean operator had a commitment from the
lessor in Nairobi to obtain the neccessary permits,
allowing Zimbabweans to validate their licenses and
therefore operate the Kenyan registered aircraft.This
is where Aircraft Leasing Capital came in.
According to our preliminary findings, what happened
next was a clear example of the complete lack of real
committment to furthering of the Aviation industry in
Africa:
1/ The representative of the local civil aviation
authority in Harare responsible for the validation of
the Kenyan aircrafts credentials set about trying to
deport the Kenyan pilot sent to assist with initial
assesment and training of the Zimbabweans. It is
unclear why the Kenyan pilot became the focus of this
action, other than perhaps it was unclear to the
official as to how any positive outcome would be of
benefit to him.
2/ The company on-leasing the aircraft(s) from the
operator had an internal control struggle clearly
founded distrust, apparently about who was getting what
benefit out of the deal. Two warring factions emerged,
one determined to undermine wherever possible, the
others relationship with the operator.
The end result is an aircraft returned to Kenya after 7
hours of revenue flying in a whole month, five pilots
job security in limbo and a bill of over $ 20 000 for
our troubles. It is our intention to publish a
guideline to investing in third world aviation ventures
and this incident will feature, in far greater depth in
that document." INVESTAIRORG JAN2005/1
Does anyone know who the pilots are and if they secured other work ?.
Subject : Fw: interesting article Re: Re: AVIATION INVESTMENT CAUTION
"Aircraft Leasing represents a small group of
philanthropic venture capitalists seeking to develop
aviation intetests in the emerging markets of the third
world, with particular emphasis on bringing on board
local partnerships. In the long term, the local
partners take over businesses without the heavily
establishment capital investment, by way of lease
purchase from Aircraft Leasing Capital.
Recently certain group members underwrote a start-up
air ambulance project, in Harare, Zimbabwe. This was to
be the first time that a local Zimbabwean had fully
controlled a service that had for many years been
performed by foreigners, both operationally and
financially, with little or no long term benefit for
the Zimbabwean aviation industry.
The project got off to a good start by securing the
lease of two very suitable aircraft with a back-up
third aircraft where required. Two of the aircraft were
locally registered, creating an excellent opportunity
for employment of local pilots and engineers.
The viability study showed that with the current
depressed tourism and investment situation in Zimbabwe,
pilots and engineers were seeking employment abroad,
haemorraging the expertise base.
The third and principal aircraft was Kenyan registered,
but the Zimbabwean operator had a commitment from the
lessor in Nairobi to obtain the neccessary permits,
allowing Zimbabweans to validate their licenses and
therefore operate the Kenyan registered aircraft.This
is where Aircraft Leasing Capital came in.
According to our preliminary findings, what happened
next was a clear example of the complete lack of real
committment to furthering of the Aviation industry in
Africa:
1/ The representative of the local civil aviation
authority in Harare responsible for the validation of
the Kenyan aircrafts credentials set about trying to
deport the Kenyan pilot sent to assist with initial
assesment and training of the Zimbabweans. It is
unclear why the Kenyan pilot became the focus of this
action, other than perhaps it was unclear to the
official as to how any positive outcome would be of
benefit to him.
2/ The company on-leasing the aircraft(s) from the
operator had an internal control struggle clearly
founded distrust, apparently about who was getting what
benefit out of the deal. Two warring factions emerged,
one determined to undermine wherever possible, the
others relationship with the operator.
The end result is an aircraft returned to Kenya after 7
hours of revenue flying in a whole month, five pilots
job security in limbo and a bill of over $ 20 000 for
our troubles. It is our intention to publish a
guideline to investing in third world aviation ventures
and this incident will feature, in far greater depth in
that document." INVESTAIRORG JAN2005/1