A LOCAL who was formerly the manager hedging for Fiji Airways, made a loss of $96m and $76m in two consecutive years for incorrect hedging.
This was revealed in Parliament by Acting Prime Minister and Civil Aviation Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum while responding to a question by Opposition MP Prem Singh on why expatriates and locals on the same ranks working for Fiji Airways were paid differently.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said if Fiji Airways had hired a hedging expert with 10 to 20 years experience in hedging, that would not have happened.
“It’s correct to say there are people within Fiji, probably nobody in Fiji who has had 15 to 20 years’ experience in Fiji because we don’t hedge in this market,” he said.
“So we have to get someone from outside because this airline company deals with international transactions.”
He said it was nonsense of the Opposition to bring up issues that the difference in pay for expatriates and locals on the same rank were a breach of the Employment Relations Act.
