Pietermaritzburg - A new airline that touched down on Pietermaritzburg Airport’s runway recently is already experiencing turbulence with its competitors.
FlyGoAir CEO Reg Sivsanker has made shocking claims against top airline SA Airlink, accusing it of industrial espionage from as far back as 2009.
This month Sivsankar opened a criminal case against SA Airlink, claiming that two of its staff “tampered” with his airline’s computers at Pietermaritzburg Airport. Sivsankar says this was the last straw in a series of events he believes was industrial espionage.
He said his staff noticed their computers had been tampered with when they arrived for work one Monday last month.
“My staff arrived and saw that someone had been trying to access the computers at our station. They immediately brought this to the airport manager’s attention and asked to view the footage from the previous day,” said Sivsanker.
He alleged the footage showed two SA Airlink staff, identified by their uniforms, attempting to access the FlyGoAir computers. Sivsankar contacted his legal team, who decided to pursue the case through criminal charges.
'Ongoing battle'
“The SAPS is now in the process of obtaining the relevant court orders to obtain the footage of the tampering of our computers,” he said.
Sivsankar said this was just one incident in an “ongoing battle” between SA Airlink and FlyGoAir.
He accused SA Airlink of anti-competitive behaviour by lowering prices to “boot” FlyGoAir out of the market, and alleged that three of his airline’s flights were diverted “suspiciously” to Durban last week.
“These diversions cost us money and my customers were not happy at all. I believe this is part of SA Airlink’s plans to drive us into extra costs and push our customers away,” said Sivsankar.
In addition, his plane’s tyres were found deflated last week and they were busy investigating that matter separately.
However, both SA Airlink and Pietermaritzburg Airport manager Alvin Naidoo said there was no truth to Sivsankar’s allegations.
“This allegation is reckless and malicious and vindictive, more so in light of FlyGoAir’s poor performance. Importantly, the allegation relates to computers that are not under lock and key and are open within the airport concourse, in the same way as Airlink’s computers,” said SA Airlink CEO Rodger Foster.
He said SA Airlink had become aware of the criminal case after seeing a post on FlyGoAir’s Facebook page on October 24.
Foster said SA Airlink’s regional and human resources managers were dispatched to investigate, and both interrogated the video footage retained at the time by the airport manager.
He said the footage only showed two SA Airlink staff “peering over” the counter, with one leaning against the counter looking at the flight schedule.
“There was no video evidence that the two staff had touched any FlyGoAir computer equipment. The two staff were immediately subjected to a disciplinary investigation and were warned against being unduly interested in the activities of a competitor,” he said.
'Dirty tricks campaign'
Foster said he believed this was “a dirty tricks campaign” waged by FlyGoAir aimed at discrediting SA Airlink, which would be “refuted and countered vigorously”.
He added that the alleged events took place on September 24, while FlyGoAir’s scheduled services to and from Pietermaritzburg only commenced on October 5.
“It is therefore incomprehensible that Airlink or its employees at any stage compromised the safety of FlyGoAir’s passengers, or were involved in any anti-competitive or collusive behaviour as alleged, given that such data could not have been available at the time,” said Foster.
Naidoo said he agreed with Foster as the camera footage showed SA Airlink staff at FlyGoAir’s computer, but nobody had touched the device.
“We have witnesses who also viewed this footage. This footage is no longer available because our system only stores footage for five days, and that is long gone,” he said.
Naidoo added that he was made aware of the suspicion that surrounded FlyGoAir’s deflated tyres, but camera footage revealed no activity near the plane after it landed. He said FlyGoAir flights had been diverted to Durban because of weather conditions, and on the instruction of air traffic control officials.
Police spokesperson Constable Mthoko Ngobese, said a case had been opened and officers were investigating.
Source:
http://www.fin24.com/Companies/TravelAndLeisure/Airlines-in-spy-dispute-20151026
