AIRPORT–If InselAir and Curaçao’s Civil Aviation Authority (CCAA) cannot come to an understanding about Windward Islands Airways Winair’s new route, the airline will probably take the matter to court.

InselAir firmly believes in competition, but it has to be fair, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) technical and flight operations Juni Sluis told Amigoe newspaper on Monday. The St. Maarten national company Winair started operations to Curaçao via Haiti on Saturday. It will also fly the route on Tuesdays with an MD-82 from PAWA airlines of the Dominican Republic.

Sluis indicated that InselAir is not against this, but it has to be as fair as possible. The moment InselAir took notice of Winair’s intention, it submitted a letter of objection to Curaçao’s Civil Aviation Authority (CCAA) because currently it is the same situation as in the time of the defunct aviation company Dutch Antilles Express (DAE).

When InselAir wanted to operate with an MD aircraft of the Suriname aviation company SLM, the Court ruled against InselAir, stating that the commercial part was unfavourable for DAE. In this case, Sluis believes that there was a legal way to show that what InselAir did back then was not right.

Now that same legal path can be used in Winair’s case, because Winair wants to use a jet to operate, but does not have a jet, so the company is leasing one from PAWA. This is why InselAir believes that the same ruling it received back in the days of DAE will also apply to Winair.

InselAir received a response from CCAA stating that the situation cannot be compared with what took place during the DAE time. InselAir replied to the department, but still has not received a reply.

“We will have a dialogue on this until we can reach an agreement, but we will not discard the possibility of going to court and letting an impartial judge make a decision on this case. We still haven’t decided yet,” said Sluis.

Bron: Daily Herald