Waves plane up for sale, but still no word on future

Monday 10 September 2018

2-CREW, Waves' single engine aircraft, is up for sale online in Florida.

The Cessna Caravan has been being used by the tech company since its inception to run its flights, and was claimed to be the first of its fleet.

The leased aircraft first left Guernsey in June, when Waves said it had to be taken out of action for important maintenance to be done. That was supposed to last around 30 days, but before 2-CREW ever returned to Guernsey, Waves announced it would be cancelling everything to "take stock of its position" until the 1 September - that was 10 days ago.

Now, the aircraft is up for sale, and the company itself has not commented on what its future will hold.

Pictured: the leased aircraft which is now listed for sale in Florida.

Waves itself said it is currently still in the process of planning what it will look like in the future, following the shock announcement of full cancellations toward the end of June.

When the news broke on 26 June, Nick Magliochetti, the business's founder and owner, said they would take the summer to "refocus" and would then relaunch on 1 September "stronger than ever". He did not comment on their aircraft being for sale.

And 10 days on from that date, Waves have not restarted their flights, with there still being no word on what the company will look like coming out of its hiatus. It said discussions with "various stakeholders" are still ongoing.

On Friday, Mr Magliochetti said: "Progress in aviation is excruciatingly slow sometimes, in the best interests of all Waves' stakeholders, Waves is choosing not to make further comment at this time."

News is expected in a few weeks, he added.

People who booked flights onward from September 1 - when the airline was originally promising to once again be running - have received emails confirming their travel has been cancelled and their payment has been refunded.

These emails said while it had "hoped to recommence flying at the beginning of September" these discussions with stakeholders were still ongoing. Therefore, Waves have had to cancel the upcoming flights.

Pictured: the email sent to Waves customers informing them that their flights were cancelled.

The latest on Waves' financial situation is that it owes just under £20,000 in tax. At the end of July, Guernsey's Royal Court gave the company two weeks to pay the outstanding bills, but Mr Magliochetti at the time said if the company could afford it, it already would have been paid.

He said in court that investor confidence in Waves was poor and he was currently in the process of raising funds. He did not comment as to how this process has gone when contacted by Express last week.

Before this, following Waves' original cancellation announcement, it was revealed Waves never actually received a £510,000 sum it had raised through online crowdfunding platform Seedrs. 

The money raised via an online investment platform was eventually returned to the investors after the crowding funding company's due diligence checks were voided by a Judicial Review into Waves' business model.

The current Waves aircraft 2-CREW has been in the UK since the start of June. It was recalled for maintenance, meaning Waves had to cancel all of its flights for June. It was meant to begin flying again on June 22, but the aircraft has still not come back to Guernsey. Mr Magliocchetti would not confirm its exact location.