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.