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Overseas consultants are being called in as part of measures to help Fiji’s national carrier Air Pacific turn around from a staggering $65 million record loss in the 2009/2010 financial year, airline chief executive officer Dave Pflieger has revealed.
He was addressing the Certified Practicing Account (CPA) Fiji 2010 Congress at the Sheraton Resort in Nadi.
Pflieger said the measure was part of efforts by airline management to do the best they could on the revenue and cost fronts going forward from the loss which he described as unacceptable.
“I just wanted to make sure that we do the best job we can as a team and more importantly I want to educate our team about best practices world wide. So if we can hire the best in the business from somewhere in Eurpe or South America or America, to bring that training to our people here in the airline, we want to do that,” he later told FijiLive.
One consultant had just ended a two-week term, Pflieger said.
He would not indicate when the airline could be expected to return to profitability.
“It depends on a lot of things just like every business out there. The global financial crisis, what’s going on here, what’s going on in the rest of the world.”
Downsizing, he said, was not an option.
Pflieger told congress participants during a question and answer session that he was maintaining a strong hands-on approach with finances.
He said no one in the company was allowed to spend anything above $5000 without his approval.
“We have a lot of cash but I’m focused like a laser on where our money is going on a daily basis.”
Pflieger said he was also doing everything possible to address flight delays and admitted that the airline had issues when it came to contacting passengers about flight delays.
“We should absolutely be calling people,” he said.
“We’re having daily operations meetings to deliver an on-time service.”
By Richard Naidu
