Island Sun Newspaper

WINAIR TO RESUME FLIGHTS INTO BVI

WINAIR, a Netherlands government owned regional airline, resumed flights into the BVI on December 1^st, 2003.
Representatives from the airline, Senior Analyst Denicio Richardson and Director of Customer Service and Marketing Claudio Buncamper, met with officials from the BVI Tourist Board and hosted a press conference here on Wednesday November 26^th.
Since September 11^th, 2001, WINAIR ceased operating flights to the BVI when the profitability of flights came into question. However, airline officials said with the global tourism market recuperating, WINAIR would re-introduce the service out of St Martin into Tortola daily.
The officials from Windward Islands Airways International N.V. said they have expanded their fleet of aircraft to six, including 4 twin otters, which are 19 seaters and 2 islanders the smaller 7 seaters that would be used mostly for charters.
This translates to some 5,200 seats a month into the British Virgin Islands.
WINAIR has entered into arrangements with a number of major carriers, including Caribbean Star and Caribbean Sun, which provides more regional lift to and from the islands of Antigua, St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Kitts, Saba, Statia, St. Maarten and Anguilla. Similar arrangements were also negotiated with US Airways and Air France and KLM from the European market to the benefit of passengers. WINAIR also code shares with Air Caraibes three times weekly and the local Dominican Republic population would now have a more convenient access to flights from Tortola to Santo Domingo.
The 43year old St. Maarten-based company, which is owned by the federal government of the Netherlands Antilles, also announced plans to introduce an online booking engine by mid January 2004, to boost booking possibilities around the world and so that passengers can receive electronic tickets.
Marketing Manager of the BVI Tourist Board Ms. Lynette Harrigan welcomes the resumption of WINAIR flights into the British Virgin Islands. She said this would alleviate many of the connectivity issues the territory was faced with, where in the past, they would be able to guarantee passengers flights into St. Maarten but not to the BVI.