Winair generated US$850K in profit during fiscal year 2018
POND ISLAND — On Thursday, August 22, 2019, Winair conducted its annual general meeting of shareholders in the Council of Ministers meeting hall. Main agenda point was to review the 2018 fiscal year financial results.
Present at the meeting were Prime Minister Romeo-Marlin, Minister Smith, Minister Geerlings, Minister De Weever, and Minister Johnson – all representing the Sint Maarten Shareholder -, and Mr. Cor van Wijk as the Dutch Shareholder representative assisted by Mr. Chris Johnson representative of the Netherlands.
On Winair’s side, present were the executive board consisting of Mr. Michael Cleaver as CEO and President, and Mr. Roberto Gibbs as CFO and Vice-President, supervisory board of directors Mr. Robert Budike and Mr. Georges Gréaux, with the latter chairing the meeting and Melinda Hoeve as legal secretary and minute taker on behalf of Winair. Supervisory board of director member Mr. Hans de Jong is currently on leave and was not able to attend.
It was established that unlike fiscal year 2017 where heavy losses were incurred in the last quarter due to hurricane Irma, Winair was able to turn the business around again, posting a USD850K profit for 2018, well ahead of its budget for that year that initially did not have such a positive outlook. Equally important, the staffing has returned to near pre-Irma levels at 126 strong, a clear indicator of the company’s resiliency to come back stronger in the shortest time possible.
Other achievements in 2018 were amongst others the handling of insurance claims, rebuilding the headquarters and hangar facilities, streamline the temporary office space and reservations center, execute new routes and expand on existing ones, complete audits with partner airlines and civil aviation, perform training of flight crew, ground personnel and passenger handling.
Going forward, Winair continues to forge its relationship with Air Antilles with code share and ATR aircraft lease program and is waiting for LIAT to complete its part to activate the codeshare and bring the Caribsky program to a full circle in the benefit of the regional traveling public.
Also, besides its current fleet of DH6 Twin Otters and ATR42/72, Winair has been researching using faster and larger aircraft to serve its longer destinations more effectively and will present its plans to the shareholders when ready. In the meantime, the company has made a passenger service self-assessment to improve in the areas requiring attention. “We know it will never be perfect, but we strive to at least try and give our customers the best possible near perfect travel experience,” says Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Directors, Mr. Greaux.
Top photo caption: From left to right: Mrs. Janssen-Secretariat, Minister Geerlings, Prime Minister Romeo-Marlin, Minister Smith, Chris Johnson, Cor van Wijk, Melinda Hoeve, Georges Gréaux, Michael Cleaver, Roberto Gibbs, and Robert Budike. Minister De Weever and Minister Johnson were temporarily absent in this picture.
Photo caption: Winair board, management and members of the press on Saba for the reopening of the Saba airport on Monday, October 8, 2018. File photo by Tim van Dijk.
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