WILLEMSTAD:--- Chairman of AVA Airways, Olivier Arrindell did send on September 26, 2016 a letter to the Minister in charge of civil aviation, Suzanne Camelia Römer, in which he indicated that it has been well over four months that the Minister had to cancel the hearing of appeals requested by the company regarding its Economic Permit.
Ava Airways is still waiting for the so-called aviation economic permit, which was illegally rejected by the Minister.
Mr. Arrindell informed the Minister, as you know, that she had to cancel the said hearing, due to the fact that the Minister had neglected and, thereafter, i.e. after she was referred to section 33 paragraph 3 of the Ordinance on administration justice, obstinately refused to comply with the law and refused to submit to Ava a copy of the documents, on which basis the Minister publicly pretended to have replied to refuse the economic permits of Ava Airways, which were requested by Ava Airways.
As the Minister knows, she publicly alleged that she had some supposed advice by the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten and some forensic report, that Ava Airways would have filed some ‘said-forged’ or ‘said-falsified’ documents.
Although Ava Airways has repeatedly requested the submission of these documents, which, allegedly, i.e. according to you (“the Minister”), justify your noncompliance with your obligation pursuant the legislation on aviation, the Minister refused this and thereby also committed an infringement on the law on administrative justice. Ava Airways, of course, regrets that it has had to deal with a Minister such as Minister Suzanne Camelia Römer until now,” said the Chairmen Mr. Arrindell in his letter.
The Chairman of Ava Airways stated on the behalf of Ava Curacao B.V. has taken notice of the fact that the Government of Curacao plans to bailout bankrupt Airline Insel Air via Minister Suzanne Camelia Römer which in his view is another smoke screen and smells like the scam that resulted in the past of ALM, DCA and DAE to have shut down.
The reality is that cronyisms and gambling with the people’s money is at high play here.
If the Government of Curaçao wants to save hundreds of jobs, then they should not inject any money into Insel Air. And instead invest the money into a severance pay plan for the employees of Insel Air and grant Ava Airways its overdue permits. Insel Air management and shareholders have proven their incompetence and inability to adapt to changes and to the reality of the marketplace. The friendship between the Minister and the shareholders of Insel Air is what fuels the potential scam of $15 Million USD investment intention by the Government, not taking into consideration the money already earlier given to Insel Air by the Government of Curacao via a private government company in the amount of four (4) million guilders along with the Employment Tax Holidays of the airline.
The truth is InselAir has been lying to the people, when they say that Venezuela owes them $100 million. Venezuela does not owe any money to any airline and the Government of Curacao knows this. If this is the case, Insel Air should have those bolivars generated by the tickets and services sold in Venezuela in their bank accounts, which questions the receivable of $ 100 million as stated by the Government. In Insel Air’s case, we know that part or all that money is gone, used via shareholder trust company to move the money to other places. Now the Government of Curacao and Insel Air want the people of Curacao to fund the same scam of ALM, DCA and DAE all over again.
The Venezuela government, when they do have the dollars, they will make them available to the airlines, so they can exchange their bolivars for dollars and expatriate the Dollar sales proceeds to their respective countries. However for over 2 years now, Insel Air has been selling flights to and from Venezuela in US Dollars via credit card use, so in that case, I would like to see Insel Air’s Balance sheet. Also, Insel Air should have taken provisions in their books and taken the necessary loss to represent the exchange rate loss, just as companies like COPA and Avianca American Airlines have done and something Ava Airways would have done as well said the Chairman of Ava Airways.
It is the shareholders who should reinvest into Insel Air, NOT the Government of Curacao.
The Chairman of Ava Airways said, after having consulted with the company attorney, that we hereby do make an offer to the public and the Government of Curacao in case they are very concerned about saving jobs.
- the Population ,
- the Industry and
- the Government of Curacao
- the Honorable Minister Mrs. Suzy Camelia Romer
Dear Minister Camelia Romer,
Re: Continuation of Curacao air connectivity, by means of a selective asset acquisition proposal.
AVA Airways Curacao does herewith publicly announce to offer you a solution in the current worrying situation for Curacao air transportation, effective on shortest possible term, in order to stop wasting the money of the good people of Curacao to the continuous negative cashflow of the current air transportation provider (“Insel Air”) , thereby
- assuming that a number of conditions will be prior fulfilled,
- assuming that the Government of Curacao and the Ministers are in the position to fulfill these conditions on a short term, if they really want to, on behalf of the prosperity of Curacao and its population.
Ava Airways does herewith propose to you :
- to start an acquisition process of new employees for Ava Curacao, whereas the employees of the legal entity of Insel Air Curacao -only- ( not Insel Air Aruba ), will be invited to apply for new to be created jobs at Ava Airways Curacao, and the Government of Curacao shall compensate the employees of Insel Air Curacao only with the investment capital intention of 15 Million USD as a severance until the full employment program and full certification of the Airlines is complete in Curacao.
under the additional conditions, being:
- the AOC and Economic Permit of Insel Air Curacao will be assigned to transfer to Ava Curacao B.V.,
- the AOC will be expanded to aircraft types of the Airbus family A319 and A320
- to be executed prior to the start of such beforementioned Curacao employee acquisition.
This proposal has to be regarded as a selective asset acquisition deal, against a zero price to pay.
Looking forward to your appreciated reply in due course to.
Sincerely,
Management Ava Curacao B.V.
