Surinam Airways is putting out a tender for General Cargo Sales Agent due March 1, 2022

Surinam Airways (SLM) has put out a Tender for General Cargo Service Agent due March 2, 2022

I would be surprised if anyone jumps on it, the airline has NO aircraft of its own, and under normal ICAO rules it is NOT an airline as its AOC (Operating Certificate) should have been suspended after 60 days of no activity.

Its a mess, though in the 2019 IATA Performance Report Cargo was given rare praise, one of the few things working at SLM, with 2019/2020 the revenue was $US 5.76 million in passenger aircraft cargo and $US 5.36 million in revenue on all-cargo flights, which added up to $US 11.1 million in revenue or 12% of the total SLM annual Revenue of $US 92.2 million.

Suriname has os few foreign investors, no one lining up to invest in the country, its reputation is not good, I suspect locally someone will tender for the General Cargo Sales Agency, but they have to be ready for the collapse of Surinam Airways in 2022.

BUT 2021 was the year Surinam Airways collapsed! (the “worst airline” in the world for 2021) NOT because of Covid, it was a financial disaster for years (hence the $80-$103M debt), Covid was the straw that broke the camel’s back! and its future is very much in doubt.

Bankruptcy and liquidation is a real scenario, of the once-proud airline, that rarely got above 3 aircraft, just poor leadership, vision and inability to change to global changes.

With 4 aircraft leasing companies got burned by SLM (3 last year and the 4th leased the A340-300 to SLM years back), NOT a creditworthy, or trustworthy airline! and no one is lining up lease SLM anything today! HIGH RISK.

Any AOC applicant must have an aircraft to get an AOC, so when you lose your only aircraft (SLM lost 3 in 2021) you are technically no longer an airline.

Again time for ICAO and FAA to audit what the hell is going on in Suriname, I have heard ridiculous stories that they had the B777-200ER on PZ registration until recently, but registration is not the criteria, its operation that is important, and they returned that aircraft to Boeing 12 months ago early and with a broken engine and the aircraft was not in the condition agreed to for return.

SLM falsely claims it is operating, BUT that is a lie, they are operating nothing, the ACMI contracts are with foreign airlines with our own pilots, cabin crew and maintenance personnel.

IF SLM is NOT operating its own aircraft, it is no longer considered an airline! an AOC is active only when an airline is operating at least 1 aircraft.

I think ICAO and FAA should be investigating the current operation, which in my opinion is not proper, and the ACMI operators should not be operating for an airline that has no aircraft of its own.

IF heaven forbid an accident were to happen, SLM and the government of Suriname would surely face massive lawsuits because the operation is not proper most likely not legal under international law, as SLM has no oversight, its pilots, cabin crew and engineers are home doing nothing since they have NO aircraft and SLM pays foreign pilots Cabin crew to service SLM routes.

Anyway, SLM is technically bankrupt, $80-$103 million in debt with 4 lessors seeking or will be seeking compensation for early terminations, the first one wants $4.3 million the others are coming (Boeing, DAE, Aircastle) at some time soon).

This RFP seeks to identify and engage a dynamic and creative organization to drive local Cargo sales, marketing and customer support services activities for cargo to and from Suriname whilst
leveraging local expertise and resources .

The invitation to tender further elaborates on the effectiveness and lawfulness, in accordance with,
among other things, the Government Accounts Act 2019 (Comptabiliteitswet 2019) and the
principle of Good Corporate Governance.

c. DELIVERABLES/ DESIRED RESULTS
Your organization will be expected to provide the following services for the Suriname market.
The services:

1. Cargo Sales and sales servicing for B2Band B2C.
2. Market intelligence and promotion services
3. Customer relation/after sales services