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Winair celebrates 45 years today
by The Daily Herald
Posted: Aug 24, 2006 15:32 UTC
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AIRPORT - Windward Islands Airways International Winair is celebrating its 45th anniversary today, Thursday. Managing Director Edwin Hodge gives a historical sketch of this rather small airline which has been through some turbulent times and is still financially struggling.
Winair, then Windward Islands Airways, was founded August 24, 1961, by George Greaux, Hyppolyte “Faustin” Ledee and Norman Chester Wathey with the main goal of creating regular flights between St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius. Other islands like St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, Guadeloupe and St. Barths were added to the schedule in 1965.
The four-seat Piper Apache aircraft flew to St. Eustatius in 1962 and the historic first unofficial short take-off and landing (STOL) flight in the Caribbean was carried out with a Pilatus Porter aircraft in Saba in July 1963. Regular service to Saba started officially on September 18, 1963, with two flights a week.
Winair expanded its network the same year, now having a second Piper Apache and a Beach Bonanza, and the well-known pilot Jose Dormoy, better known as “Pipe” for smoking a pipe while flying, was hired. The airline had a staff of about 10 at that time. Now the company employs 130.
Winair’s trademark aircraft, the 19-seat De Havilland Twin Otter, was introduced between 1967 and 1970 when the two Piper Apaches were replaced. The Twin Otter is an ideal aircraft for STOL operations necessary in Saba and St. Barths. Today the company has a fleet of four De Havilland Twin Otters and three Britten Norman Islander aircraft. Name change
The airline’s name was changed to Windward Islands Airways International in 1971 and the carrier was allowed to land at airports like San Juan and St. Thomas. The Central Government came into play in 1974 when the three founders sold their shares to the Central Government because of a fuel crisis. At the time it seemed a positive move, as it would allow Winair to improve its route schedule.
The relation with the Central Government, the sole shareholder, has not always been smooth. Willemstad, in Winair’s opinion, still owes the airline NAf. 500,000, the last payment of a larger amount to help the financially struggling company. “They say there are no funds,” said Hodge, adding that Willemstad had indicated that it couldn’t give subsidy in the future.
As a result Winair has to be sold. But, said Hodge, selling the airline just for the sake of selling wouldn’t be beneficial. He said it was important to secure a good return, also in the interest of the employees. Winair’s duty to maintain service to Saba and St. Eustatius also plays a role. Needed investments
Hodge said the financial troubles had prevented the airline from making investments, which means stagnation of the company. “There are routes that we can fly,” said Hodge, explaining that Winair wanted to better exploit its traffic rights. The privatisation process has been taking longer than Hodge wants, but there are now a few prospective investors, whose names he said he couldn’t divulge.
Winair requested a moratorium on payments a few years ago, because of financial problems. The moratorium ended October 2004. “We had to go into it because of our debts,” said Hodge, adding that not all debts had been wiped out and that there were still a few pending. Measures were taken to prevent build-up of new debts and cost was cut.
Hodge said the company was not in the black yet, but financially speaking doing better than a few years ago. In fact, Winair hopes to break even by mid-2007 and make a small profit in 2008. However, the airline will have to deal with rising fuel cost, which somehow will have to be passed on to the client.
The sale and lease back programme, whereby the engines and later on the aircraft were sold and then leased back, was a viable option for Winair to keep afloat. The company would not have survived if it had been necessary to buy new engines, Hodge implied. “Then we could all have gone home,” he said. He said it was not uncommon in the airline industry to lease engines and aircraft. Positive news
Hodge had positive news about the Twin Otter 300 series, manufacturing of which stopped in the late 1980s. Last month the Viking company announced that it would commence manufacturing the aircraft once again. The company will give details during a conference in September. Hodge and the airline’s Director of Maintenance will be present at that conference.
Hodge said Winair would have to see if it was a viable option to buy new Twin Otters. “We know for a fact that it is more expensive to manufacture an aircraft in the modern day. We’ll see what they have to offer and go from there,” he said.
Hodge proudly spoke of some Winair’s successes. Recently the airline acquired an important maintenance certification that enables it to carry out maintenance on certain parts. The launching of the Website www.fly-winair.com was another achievement, as was the increase in the traffic load.
He said Winair also had succeeded in running a tight ship, being a safe and dependable airline. “We don’t cut corners where that is concerned,” he said. He stressed that Winair sticks to the guidelines of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The airline hopes to be included in the IOSA, the world standard for airlines, in about two years.
Winair does passenger handling for several airlines and wants to become more dynamic in that area. Other improvements that have been made at Winair during the past years to lower cost and enhance its operation include e-ticketing and interline agreements with several US, European and Caribbean carriers.
Winair also joined billing settlement plans in Germany, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, allowing travel agencies to sell Winair tickets directly. Operating cost was lowered by some 40 per cent.
Winair joined Go Caribbean Network in 2003 by having US Airways code sharing on its destinations. Winair reintroduced air service to Montserrat in July last year.
Hodge especially thanked current and past employees for their contributions. He said he hoped the company, one of the oldest regional airlines in the Caribbean, would be around for another 45 years. de.
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