Excelsis Airlines - fraud squad called in (From The Northern Echo)

Excelsis Airlines - fraud squad called in

1:49pm Tuesday 13th October 2009 in

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THE MAN behind Excelsis Airways faces a police investigation after the entire management team at Excelsis Airways resigned.

Cleveland Police investigators have been called in by the businessmen employed to get the airline off the ground.

Excelsis claimed it was planning a regular service from Durham Tees Valley to London City Airport.

But The Northern Echo has uncovered serious questions about the plan.

In a statement issued today, they said: "Despite constant assurances and guarantees from the owner Victor Bassey about capital funding for the company, stretching back over the last three months, no money has been forthcoming.

"Throughout that time, and still to this day, no member of the Excelsis team has been paid a single penny, and no funds have been made available to meet the demands of an ever increasing number of creditors.

"In early September, as our concerns for the viability of the company continued to rise, and as the number of financial victims continued to escalate, members of the Excelsis team reported their concerns to Cleveland Police, and the Companies Investigation Branch.

"They have both subsequently launched their own investigations into (Excelsis boss) Victor Bassey and have now agreed that the following statement can be released today. Their enquirees into Victor Bassey are continuing."

The Northern Echo revealed fears over the airline plans two months ago.

We discovered that Victor Bassey, the man behind the plan, lived a modest life-style in a terraced house in Middlesbrough.

The paper also revealed:

* The company headquarters at Morton Palms business park, in Darlington, are empty and a lease is still to be signed;

* Job adverts on the Excelsis website have been copied from a Canadian airline's site;

* A spokesman for London City Airport said it has not spoken to the new airline;

* The Civil Av iation Authority (CAA) has yet to receive an application for an operator's licence.

Victory Bassey attempts to calm the fears by unveiling an impressive management team which, he said, would help his dream take off.

He also threatened to walk away from Durham Tees Valley, which desperately needs a link to London, and establish Excelsis elsewhere in the North.

Bassey's team - who all quit today - featured: chief executive Andreas Blass; chief commercial officer Keith Watson, who is a former head of sales and marketing at Eastern Airways; and flight operations director Andrew Bray, who was with the RAF for more than 20 years and has worked as operations director for Middle East charter service Royal Jet.

Mr Blass is a former chief executive officers at Islas Airways and was a member of the start-up team at Hapag-Lloyd Express.

He was told the start-up had a £10m cash pile in order to start flight operations.

The team at Excelsis Airways was assembled in the summer with a view to operating a premium short haul airline service to a number of destinations including Durham Tees Valley to London City.

The company is currently thought to be operating from a temporary office at the Springboard Business Centre on the Stokesley Industrial Estate just South of Middlesbrough.

A spokesman for Durham Tees Valley Airport said: "It is normal for all airports to have discussions on possible opportunities for new services but it is also a matter of fact that many initial contacts do not progress.

"In the case of Excelsis Airways airport representatives did have initial meetings with Mr Victor Bassey. Following the announcement by Excelsis of the appointment of a senior management team it was hoped to have further discussions but arrangements for meetings were cancelled by Excelsis.

"We continue to work with many airlines on examining the potential for new routes and services and indeed only recently Eastern Airways announced that from November 2nd they will be operating a twice-daily Monday-to-Friday service between Durham Tees Valley and Southampton Airport which is becoming an increasingly important gateway to the South East—the airport is just 66 minutes from central London and with immediate access to the M3/M27 motorway network.

"In fact many of those passengers who previously used the Heathrow service will find it just as easy to access their destinations from Southampton and already a number of major local companies have welcomed the introduction of the new service."