AIRPORT:--- The Windward Islands Airways (WINAIR) made three inaugural flights on Sunday. The new routes added on December 15th, 2013 were St. Maarten to Tortola, St. Maarten to Curacao, and St. Maarten to Anguilla. The fourth route WINAIR has added to its schedule is St. Maarten to the Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo). The Santo Domingo inaugural flight is set for Monday December 16th, 2013.
CEO and President of WINAIR Michael Cleaver along with founder of WINAIR Georges Greaux accompanied reporters from St. Maarten to Tortola for its first inaugural flight on Sunday December 15th. WINAIR pilot Michael Jeffry took off from the Princess Juliana International Airport at 11am and landed at the BVI Airport 35 minutes later. At the airport there were two fire trucks in place to spray water on the aircraft as it made its way to the parking area, this is customary for all new aircrafts that make their inaugural flight to any destination.
The delegation from St. Maarten were greeted by the Managing Director of BVI Airport Authority who is also the President of the BVI Tourist Board Denniston Fraser.
Cleaver told reporters that December 15th was a great day for WINAIR since the airline added three new destinations to its schedule the same day.
The local airline is placing strong focus on Tortola since the demand for another airline traveling from St. Maarten to Tortola is greatly needed. Cleaver said WINAIR will be making two daily flights to Tortola and in the very near future they will overnight in Tortola in order to service passengers that have early connecting flights in St. Maarten. One of the greatest advantages with the flights to Tortola is that passengers traveling from the Caribbean islands, Europe, and the United States can now have two connecting flights the same day to Tortola if that is their final destination. The flights to the BVI are also a great opportunity for BVI residents that love to shop on St. Maarten, also it gives stay over tourists on St. Maarten a good opportunity to travel to the BVI to enjoy the Baths in Virgin Gorda, the beaches and great scenery in Tortola and the other neighboring islands.
Reporters that traveled to Tortola on Sunday were treated to lunch after that a mini tour of the island. Tortola is one of the British Islands that is well kept with a crime rate of below 4%. Residents of Tortola said much of the 4% are crimes committed through domestic violence. The island maintains its rich culture and the people there are also very friendly. Passengers traveling to Tortola will be taken there with WINAIR's Twin Otter, while the flight to Santo Domingo uses the ATR 42 which was recently added to WINAIR's fleet of aircrafts. The ATR has a passenger capacity of 48 passengers.
The Management of WINAIR plans to add two other destinations in February 2014 to their schedule that is roundtrips from St. Maarten to Puerto Rico and St. Maarten to Republic of Dominica. Plans are in place to take passengers from Dominica to Guadeloupe, Curacao, and to Santo Domingo.
Cleaver said that management of WINAIR has lots of plans for WINAIR which they expect to kick off in 2014, including the possibility to fly from St. Maarten to Haiti. Passengers that are interested in WINAIR low fare flights to the each of their destinations can book their tickets online at www.fly-winair.com or at an airline of their choice since all airlines now have WINAIR flights in their systems.
Below is WINAIR's current flight schedule:
SXM-EIS Departs 11:35 AM Arrives 12:20, DHC-600
EIS-SXM Departs 12:40 PM Arrives 13:30, DHC-600
SXM-EIS Departs 16:55 PM Arrives 17:40, DHC-600
EIS-SXM Departs 18:00 PM Arrives 18:50, DHC-600
SXM-SDQ Departs 14:30 PM Arrives 16:30, ATR on Monday Thursday and Saturday
SDQ-SXM Departs 12:00 PM Arrives 14:00, ATR on Monday Thursday and Saturday
SXM-AXA Departs 12:10 PM Arrives 12:20, DHC-600
AXA-SXM Departs 12:35 PM Arrives 12:45, DHC-600
SXM-AXA Departs 16:00 PM Arrives 16:10, DHC-600
AXA-SXM Departs 16:25 PM Arrives 16:35, DHC-600
SDQ-CUR Departs 12:00 PM Arrives 14:00, ATR on Sunday and Wednesday
CUR-SDQ Departs 14:30 PM Arrives 16:30, ATR on Sunday and Wednesday
By February 15th, 2014 WINAIR will be servicing the destinations of Dominica, Guadeloupe, and Puerto Rico via Anguilla. The schedule being as follows:
New Services Effective February 15, 2014,
PTP-SXM Departs 08:00 AM Arrives 10:00, ATR
SXM-PTP Departs 15:50 PM Arrives 17:50, ATR
PTP-DOM Departs 08:00 AM Arrives 08:30, ATR
DOM-PTP Departs 17:20 PM Arrives 17:50, ATR
SXM-DOM Departs 15:50 PM Arrives 16:50, ATR
DOM-SXM Departs 09:00 AM Arrives 10:00, ATR
SXM-AXA Departs 10:50 AM Arrives 11:00, ATR
AXA-SJU Departs 11:30 AM Arrives 12:30, ATR
SJU-AXA Departs 13:30 PM Arrives 14:30, ATR
AXA-SXM Departs 15:00 PM Arrives 15:10, ATR
Click here to view more photos of WINAIR's inaugural flight to Tortola on Sunday.
