Return of the Jedi

Mr. Bram Steller, MD, TMA will be back in Male' on Sunday, 24th February 2007. He is presently visiting Pacific Coastal Aircraft Hangar in Australia where the latest addition to the TMA fleet, the ATR-42, is almost completing a C-Check after which it is scheduled to be painted in TMA colors. The colors which Mr. Steller handpicked ofcourse, just like he picked the former HR manager, "Captain" Tyronne Arulraj. How long did he last you ask?? Well just over 2 months which is good compared to his personal secretary, "Lady" Diana who only survived 4 working days.

This is the true story of the staff turnover "kulhivaru" that has been going on for the last 3 years. How many HR managers in the last 3 years? How many Chief Financial officers in 3 years? A better question would be what's the longest a chief pilot has ever lasted at TMA?

Where is the board of directors? Since Mr. Azad Shivdasani sold his share (so goes the story, but we all know what really happened) to the two Maldivian business tycoons; Champa Afeef and Burumaa Gasim, this company has become a really big personal pie where Mr. Steller can poke his finger into wherever he likes whenever he likes. No department within the company has any authorization to carry out any tasks without "prior approval from the MD" (something which Mr. Ranjit (CFO) and Mr. Mansoor (FOM) really enjoy), be it granting a medical leave to a subordinate or even sending a simple letter to a relevant authority.

With nobody watching over him, Mr. Steller is free to spend the investor's money at his will. The latest example would be the brand new VIP vehicle that was ordered to be painted in a single day and after almost all the maintenance employees spent a day and half without sleeping to do so, the vehicle has just been sitting in front of the hangar taking in all the dust and salt for almost 4 months now. It is yet to have a single kilometer on its log.

Well, that would be no big deal compared to million dollar airplanes parked on the dock 6 hours a day during a 12 hour operation. Why? Hello!!! No drivers, no pilots?!! Everyone witnessed a good example on this subject last Wednesday (21st Feb) when 2 passengers for Royal Island had to stay at the terminal for 3 hours with 4 airplanes parked on he dock and no pilots to fly them. The poor souls have our "hero" Mr. Mansoor (FOM) to thank when he opted to fly instead of the pilot who refused to do the flight as there was a threat of running out of daylight. This was OK for Mr. Mansoor who has a guardian angel over his shoulder. Wait!! That's not a guardian angel!!! OHHH! That's right. It's the puppet master. I can see the strings now.

Well friends, I would love to write more but I have to be on the 4.45AM boat because I just finished a 14hr duty day today. If you think you can continue this story please send your articles to flytma@gmail.com.

Cheers.