~ Posts temporarily filled ~
PHILIPSBURG--The three key positions that became vacant at Windward Islands Airways International Winair, after three senior employees were fired have been temporarily filled.
The airline is also currently in the process of looking for candidates to permanently fill these positions, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Directors Georges Gréaux said Wednesday.
Gréaux told The Daily Herald that after the positions became vacant Winair Managing Director immediately met with the St. Maarten Civil Aviation Department to inform them of the changes and received approval for the “identified qualified” personnel who are now filling-in the positions on a temporary basis.
“The process to hire qualified persons for these positions on a permanent basis has already started, which includes both internal and public postings being made for prospective candidates to respond,” he said. “At no point has any safety, security or operational quality been compromised by this change of personnel.”
The three positions became vacant when Winair Senior Manager of Flight Operations Elvis Queeley, Chief Pilot Captain Jeff Oliver and Manager of Safety Security and Corporate Quality Michael Carter were suspended by the airline on September 10, and subsequently dismissed less than a week later on September 16. Queeley and Oliver told this paper on Wednesday, that they will be challenging their dismissal (see related story).
Gréaux said a report about this matter was submitted to the Council of Ministers as representatives of the St. Maarten shareholder and to the Dutch shareholder representative.
Gréaux said due to “very challenging airports” that Winair has been flying in and out of for over 50 years, safety has been and will always be the number one priority of the airline. “The quality and standards set for our aircraft maintenance programme, pilot training and certification, operational and safety manuals, emergency response programme, ground handling programme and...our customer services training are at a level that rivals or even surpasses some of the best and largest international carriers in the world.”
He said the fact that Air France, which has a “very stringent” auditing process that also requires the written approval of the French civil aviation authorities, has recently embarked on a full-code share agreement with Winair, is a testament to the airline’s commitment to these high standards.
“Secondly, and more importantly, Winair has to be in constant contact with the St. Maarten Civil Aviation in addressing the various protocols and regulations related to its operations. This contact also includes audits performed to ensure that Winair is in compliance. It’s also important to know that [Ed. – International Civil Aviation Organisation] ICAO is not a regulatory agency, but is an organisation that airlines and countries are voluntary members of and by virtue agree to adopt their policies, practices and procedures, while the St. Maarten Civil Aviation is the regulatory agency which regulates the aviation industry for Country St. Maarten,” he said.
