petition for objecting to the issuance of a foreign air carrier permit
Transcription
petition for objecting to the issuance of a foreign air carrier permit
PETITION FOR OBJECTING TO THE ISSUANCE OF A FOREIGN AIR CARRIER PERMIT. Gentlemen, Pursuant to the application for an exemption of foreign air carrier permit under Section 49 USC 41301 and/or 40109 filed by: Compagnie Inter Régionale Express, (CAIRE) dba AIR ANTILLES EXPRESS and/or AIR GUYABE EXPRESS, I wish to file the present objection based on the following facts: I am a US citizen who was employed by the applicant from 2005 to 2013 in an executive position with the applicant. During my tenure with the carrier, I witnessed a consistent and repeated pattern of misleading and deceptive practices toward consumers, employees, and to some extent Government authorities. As examples of consumer prejudice, the carrier has had numerous delays exceeding the maximum allowed time under Section UE 261/2004, yet rarely, (not to say never), it advised passengers of their rights to receive compensations. Claims for compensations have been systematically ignored. Lost or delayed bags were most of the time handled with complete disregard of passenger grievances. The carrier failed to pay and/or honor its commitments for compensations, whether salaries or fees to employees or contractors when the latest were deemed not to be necessary any longer. Cases are pending under French Labor Courts. There are inconsistencies on the carrier payroll taxes or Added Value Taxes in its home country using creative schemes avoid paying such taxes to the detriment of employees and/or sub-contractors, and ultimately the Government itself. Not relevant to the issue, but worth mentioning, the extremely high unemployment prevailing in the carrier home-base refrain many local employees from filing labor actions. Its cooperate structure, although compliant under French Laws, is shadowy involving a shareholder structure officially public, but comprising of several layers where the majority interest is directly controlled by one single individual, (the ultimate beneficial Owner), known as Eric Koury, a French national who does not appears anywhere in the carrier official records as an officer or responsible person, but whose decision power and influence is permanent, and totally unchallenged with the management which scrupulously follow his instructions on a daily basis. It has been my understanding that this individual may have been subject to several criminal investigations by French enforcement agencies, tax authority in particular. The USDOT should be aware of this external influence, which could be detrimental to US consumers. As another example of misleading and deceptive practices, the person who has executed the Waiver of Liability Limitation under exhibit 3 of the documents filed with this application is identified as: Serge TSYGALNITZKY, describing himself as the CEO for the carrier. Yet French corporate records, (abstract attached), are showing that the CEO, (President Directeur General, in French), is in fact Mr. Christian Marchand, who is also listed with the French DGAC as the carrier “responsible person”. In fact Mr. TSYGALNITZKY has been hired by Mr. Koury in June 2013 in the position of Managing Director. His authority to file on behalf of the carrier US official documents has to be determined and verified. Another confusing aspect of such application is the fact that the carrier is applying to operate to the United States for two “virtual” airlines under their registered trade names; AIR ANTILLES EXPRESS and AIR GUYANE EXPRESS. It should be noted that the IATA code 3S has been attributed to CAIRE or Compagnie Inter Regional Express, and not to the two listed brand names. In practice the carrier is operating within its national confines with a fleet of aircraft painted in both livery; AIR ANTILLES EXPRESS and AIR GUYANE EXPRESS. The 3S code is therefore misleading as consumer cannot always determine if they will be flying on an AIR ANTILLES EXPRESS plane or AIR GUYANE EXPRESS aircraft. Should the carrier is to operate to the United States, and sell its tickets to US consumers, (which it already apparently did without having yet received the permit), the USDOT should request that the carrier clarifies the association of its brand name with the IATA code and provide assurances that GDS’s, and the carrier web site will disclose true and accurate information reflecting the exact name of the airline passengers will be flying on. Base on the above, I am asking the USDOT to stay any issuance of permit based on this application, pending further full disclosures, and resolves on: 1. The exact brand associated with the application matching the IATA code to which US consumers will be referred to. 2. Provide a true and accurate Operating and flights delay history, concerning the carrier practices on indemnifying passengers in the event of delays exceeding three hours, and show how many passengers submitted to delays in excess of time allowed under Section 261/2004 have been indemnified. DOT official shall then be able to determine the carrier proper conduct with its customers. 3. The true nature of Mr. Eric KOURY influence on the carrier as a non-appearing entity in the carrier corporate structure, yet at the origin of the carrier financial resources, which funding should be scrutinized to ensure full compliance with US Laws against money laundering. If unable to secure information, the USDOT should request the carrier to provide a notarized affidavit signed by such person under oath that he never had any involvement of any nature whatsoever with the carrier from the date the carrier was certified to date. 4. Also as protective measure for any creditor of US origin or US person, stay the issuance of the subject permit until all claims for moneys owed by the carrier are satisfied. The above information are believed to be true and correct, and submitted to the US Dept. of Transportation as a suggestion for the sake protecting the US consumers from any fraud and/or abuses, as well as a guidance to the Agency to proceed with it best and thorough investigations prior to issuing a permit. Made on this 30th day of January 2014 Respectfully submitted. Serge Barder CAIRE : Activité Coordonnées Adresse : Aéroport de Rochambeau 97351 Matoury France Téléphone : +33 (0)5 94 29 36 30 Télécopie : +33 (0)5 94 30 54 37 Site web : http://www.airguyane.com CAIRE (Compagnie Aérienne Inter Régionale Express) est une compagnie aérienne organisée autour de 3 pôles d'activités : - transport de passagers; - transport de fret ; - transport de courrier. L'activité est assurée en Guyane sous la marque Air Guyane Express et aux Antilles sous la marque Air Antilles Express. CAIRE : Dirigeants Dirigeant Titre Monsieur Christian Marchand Président Directeur Général Monsieur Christian Marchand Contact Investisseurs CAIRE : Actionnaire Dénomination Guyane Aeroinvest Autres actionnaires CAG Yxop Sodetraguy Buredis % % droits de actions vote 38,05 38,05 18,86 16,48 16,48 16,23 16,23 4,95 4,95 La Diffusion Mécanique Comtoise Monsieur Christian Marchand 4,02 4,02 1,41 1,41 Comptes de Résultats CAIRE 2006 2007 21 334 27 545 Chiffre d'affaires 458 453 Achats consommés 5 464 5 526 Frais de personnel 724 Résultat d'exploitation 733 24 205 Impôts 225 393 Résultat net ( Chiffres en milliers d\'euros ) Conseil d'administration Dénomination Titre Monsieur Christian Marchand Président du Conseil d'Administration Sodetraguy Administrateur CAG Yxor Administrateur ESCA Conseil Administrateur Monsieur Danielle Selby Administrateur Historique Année Evénement création de la société Air Guyane (devenue Compagnie Aérienne Inter Régionale Express ; Guyane) par Christian Marchand. Démarrage de l'exploitation hors lignes intra 2002 guyanaises avec la mise en route de 3 lignes régulières aux Antilles (Pointe-à-Pitre/Saint Martin, Pointe-à-Pitre/Fort de France, et Fort de France/Saint Martin). 2009 introduction sur le Marché Libre d'Euronext Paris.