SIMPSON BAY, Sint Maarten – With approximately 50 persons onboard including several journalists, the Curacao base airline, JetAir Caribbean, made its inaugural flights to Sint Maarten over the weekend.
On Sunday afternoon at around 5:45 pm, the Fokker 70 aircraft touched down at the Princess Juliana International to a water salute, signaling the arrival of the first official commercial flight executed to the island by the airline. Accompanying the flight to Sint Maarten was among other persons, the Managing Director of the airline, Antonio Ribereiro and the Chief Executive Officer at JetAir Caribbean, Robert Maars.
The airline is starting off with two weekly flights to and from Curaçao on Sundays and Wednesdays.
Upon arrival at PJIA, passengers and crew were met by officials at the airport, after which, a welcome ceremony was held. “We are looking forward excitingly to this new venture from JetAir connecting SXM and Curacao. This route has been an historic route for Sint Maarten and Curacao, the Business Development Manager at the Princess Juliana International Airport, Robert Brown said, adding that there is business connection; there is family connection, while admitting that the route has always been a difficult one.
According to the Business Development Manager at PJIA, the love that we have for the route has always brought us back to make sure that we have a route to facilitate the economic development and transportation between the islands. “This is very important and it is something that is very important to Sint Maarten and SXM as well, Mr. Brown said.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of JetAir Caribbean Robert Maag acknowledged the history of the Curacao/Sint Maarten route. He remarked: “The Curacao /Sint Maarten route is a very traditional route, and that is because of our constitutional ties that have been established in the Dutch Caribbean several years ago.”
In further expounding, the CEO of the airline mentioned that ALM and Dutch Antilles did this route from the beginning and every designated carrier from Curacao did the Sint Maarten/Curacao route, and Jetiar will be no exception to this rule.
Jetair fleet consists of 2 F70 aircrafts, both with a capacity of 80 seats. The vision of Jetair Caribbean is to become a major regional airline in the Caribbean. Disclaimer
