“Insel Air has a year to get its act together”

WILLEMSTAD — The moratorium awarded to the struggling Curacao-based airline company Insel Air, whereby temporary suspension of payments was granted on March 14th of this year, has been extended until August 31st, 2018, during a creditor’s hearing held on Friday, August 25th, in the Court of Justice on the Wilhelminaplein in Willemstad, Curacao.

One of the main reasons for the extension granted is the proposed strategic alliance between Insel Air and the Colombian airline company Avianca. Another reason is the proposed re-starting of service with a MD-80 jet aircraft to St. Maarten, Santo Domingo, Suriname and Jamaica.

According to the CEO, Gilles Filiatreault, Insel Air will commence service within the next two to three weeks with their MD-80 aircraft which is almost ready to fly again. The intention is to immediately start with flights to St. Maarten. The Curacao-St. Maarten route is currently being serviced three times a week by Winair using a MD aircraft operated by the Dominican Republic-based airline company PAWA.

Despite the positive outcome for the struggling Insel Air in Curacao on Friday, the high outstanding debt remains a serious problem for the embattled airline company. “The airline has a year to get its act together”, said a company insider to this newspaper in an invited comment. “In what kind of structure the proposed take over of Insel Air by Avianca will be done remains to be seen despite parties believing an agreement can be reached if the government decides to take over the private company’s debts.”