Members of the Public Accounts/Public Enterprises of the National Assembly Wednesday adopted the 2011 annual report and financial statements of the Gambia International Airlines.
Presented before deputies by Bakary Nyassi, Managing Director of the GIA, the report among others covered a wide range of issues relating to the operations, finances and administration of the airline company.
In his presentation, Nyassi said the year 2011 witnessed significant improvements in the overall financial performance of the GIA.
These improvements, he said, could not have been registered without the support of the government, the Board, Management and staff of GIA.
“Board in particular approved and management implemented some critical measures aimed at stabilizing the financial soundness of the entity,” he stated.
Operating summary
According to Nyassi, the operating result for the year under review was D42.2M without the provision for bad and doubtful debts of D29.2M.
He stated that the provision for bad and doubtful debts figure comprised government and Euroatlantic Airways debts of D58.4M and D26.7M respectively.
Consequently, he went on, the profit before tax for the year is D18.9M and the after tax profit is D12.9M.
Ground Operations
The GIA boss further told members of the committees that a total of 318, 240 passengers (figure includes both arrivals and departure) were handled at Banjul International Airport in 2011.
“This figure compared with the 2010 traffic of 302, 474 signifies an increase of 5.21%,” he stated.
He revealed that in 2011, the GIA board approved management’s proposal to move cargo from the commerce department to the operations department in line with international standards and industry best practices.
The decision, he added, was prompted by a consultant hired by GIA to develop Operations Manuals for the Ground Handling business.
“This normalization of the institutional set-up will only align the cargo unit with ground handling unit as the two units are complementary, and more synergies are envisaged in the long term arising from common operational systems, saving on staff training and multi-tasking,” Nyassi told deputies.
Hajj Operation
He further revealed that the government in 2008 following the debacle in hajj operations set up an investigation committee to look into the problems of hajj organization in that year.
“The Gambian pilgrims were stranded in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for three weeks after the Hajj and Government had to spend about $726, 000 to repatriate all the pilgrims,” he said.
Nyassi also told members of the PAC/PEC that GIA was not allowed to participate in hajj operation in 2008 due to the company’s weak financial position, and internal organizational problems afflicted in the course of the Management Contract by G.S Aviation.
Capital Investment
“In 2011 GIA’s capital investment amounted to D9.2M which was invested on major equipment including baggage tow tractors and vehicles to improve operations,” he stated.
With the re-scheduling of most of the company’s liabilities with the Government institutions and other private companies, the GIA intends to engage the Gambia government in an off-setting of inter-locking arrears exercise to determine the net debtor.
This, he stated, will give GIA chance to address its aged debtors list as, the Gambia government owes GIA D58M.
