NEWS FLASH
Air Serbia’s CEO, Duncan Naysmith, has been named as one of 21 suspects in an investigation by the public prosecutor’s office in Civitavecchia, Italy into the bankruptcy of Alitalia in 2017, during its strategic partnership with Etihad Airways. Mr Naysmith served as Alitalia’s Chief Financial Officer at the time. The Italian prosecutor found that Etihad was involved in numerous financial offences at Alitalia, including the fraudulent disclosure of business information, which ultimately exacerbated the Italian flag carrier’s financial problems. Other suspects named in the investigation include members of Alitalia’s top management at the time, members of the Board of Directors, other high-ranking company officials and consultants. The former President and CEO of Etihad Airways, James Hogan, has also been named as a suspect. Italian media noted that Etihad essentially used Alitalia as an ATM machine. Alitalia has been operating in bankruptcy protection since 2017. The airline is estimated to be losing some two million euros per day and is maintaining operations only as a result of government-backed bridging loans. Last week it announced it was discontinuing the lease for three Airbus A330 aircraft from Etihad Airways at a cost of 500.000 US dollars per month per aircraft. Duncan Naysmith initially held the post of Chief Financial and Business Transformation Officer at Air Serbia upon his arrival to the company in 2017, after which he was promoted to the CEO position in December that year following the resignation of Dane Kondić.
Comments
Let's see what happens with Naysmith, in my opinion nothing since this is Serbia we are talking about.
Allegations against this guy seems minor & questionable, you can find additional details online.
Remember, after Etihad left, Alitalia have received close to 1.5 billion usd from goverment, and they are still in black.
Raiffeisen bank drains profits from every country where it operates. Siemens, McDonalds, Wizz, every global company does the same. Don't you know that's how business operates?
Wonderful talent they have right there.
Sounds like air serbia had same type of contract. BTW at moment lease rate for same age aircraft is less than half of this ammount! Someone made huge profit and someone is in huge loss. Maybe reason for non-profitability of BEG-JFK line is because Air Serbia is paying 3 mils per year more than this aircraft really should cost.
You can't blame Etihad for Alitalia's current situation (even though the Italians would love to, as it solves all problems), the fact is the airline was, and remains, completely unsustainable.
If anyone is to blame for anything, then this guy was in and across every single decision.
So nothing will ofcourse happen - as you know, he is a key player within the current Govt circles.
Someone should however, ask how is it that NAysmith was appointed without the usual background checks - even more important for a foreigner as he is. While Etihad had the right to appoint, The Serbian govt maintained the right of veto - which they didn;t do, knowing full well his background and the fact that he came from AZ and the shit that he left behind there
As for Naysmith, remember how long it took them to find a replacement for Dane? I think about a year and a half. I think they put him as the CEO because there was no one else who they could put. The government won't do anything because it's the election year and they don't need any fresh scandals.
the "incompetent mgt" you speak about are still in the same chairs, incl the Board appointees. The only thing that has changed is that some functions have returned back to BEG AND the Govt of Serbia is much more engaged and involved in decision making - providing a greater degree of checks and balances than were in place beforehand.
I'd say the fact that former Chairman Sinisa Mali is no longer directly involved, is what has had a HUGE and perhaps much bigger impact on JU mgt being allowed to run with things.
His involvement in everything and in micromanaging things, contributed to the poor functioning of the company
There is a lot that is good and they need to build on that foundation, especially now that the business is on the right trajectory.
It is also high time to put Serb talent in the steering wheel. We don't need to keep losing them to other countries and other businesses. There should be enough home grown talent to pass the batton onto. They are committed to things over the long term - unlike foreigners, who are there just for the pay cheque. Moreover, it is time the Govt start practicing what it preaches around providing opportunities for Serb talent.
This would be the perfect start
I absolutely agree with you. If they can't find talent in Serbia then all they have to do is provide good enough salaries for successful Serbs to return home and work for local companies under normal conditions.
Having invested God knows how much money, into arguably one of the major projects that this Govt has backed from the very beginning of its time in office, if after almost 7 years it cannot see a future for this business with high calibre local Serb talent running the show, then what on Earth was the point behind all of it and when - if ever - will it be the right time ?
The Govt - especially the PM - who makes so much noise about the talent that we have and the talent that we need to invest in - needs to start walking the talk or stop the B.S. rhetoric ...
Now is the time to break with the past and start a new future.
We have the talent - they just need to be given the opportunity. And if they can't get that in a Govt owned business, then is it any wonder why they choose to leave and seek opportunities outside of Serbia ?
If a guy who failed at his job in Alitalia and could do no better than to get the same job in a much smaller company than the one he left (remember, he came here as the CFO), then what does it say about him ? And what does it say about us and how we regard foreign talent vs local talent ?
Sinisa Mali was the guy who signed off on these at the request of Etihad. This is far more scandalous than whatever the current CEO is implicated in ... but what is does highlight, is the urgent need for a thorough review of Etihad's involvement and practices
EY has reached a point today selling its older birds, relying on a shiny livery for image.
As for AZ, it is like a cave with no end - I have no words.
JU for now is okay but lets see what happens during the duration of the 5 year contract
Oh wait, there was Darwin that later became Etihad Express with a Swiss logo and desertic EY livery flying on them Swedish relic Saabs. Then suddenly GVA was born and the code-share madness obsession. Yeah EY code-share on LUG-GVA route.
And Jet Airways and Seychelles is just another long long chapter.
Air Berlin - bankrupt and gone
Alitalia - bankrupt and under insolvency protection
Etihad Regional - bankrupt and gone
Jet Airways - bankrupt and gone
Virgin Australia - hugely loss making and struggling
Air Serbia - hugely loss making and requires ongoing Govt investment to keep operating
Air Seychelles - hugely loss making and requires ongoing Govt investment to keep operating
So why and what benefit does the Serbian Govt have today in keeping Etihad involved, if they are the ones providing all of the money and (increasingly) the know-how to run the airline ?
Get rid of the anchor around your legs and break free from this sordid past, before you also become a statistic
The sad thing is, that only the Govt can pay these (or refinance it) on behalf of the airline, because the business itself doesn't have the means to do so.
All of this has turned out to be such a scam and a cost with no end in sight for the Govt
Those problems never happened during the Jat Airways era. The airline was more efficient in many ways. It had a more strategic plan and was not that loss making compared to other ones. Really miss the good ol' Jat.
Same scenario is happening again. CEO will not be affected, JU will keep growing. Air Serbia like any major airline has contingency plans and succession planning in place if needed. Haters will lose again.