InselAir (Curaçao) has announced it has resumed jet operations as of Thursday, October 12. In a statement, the Curaçaon carrier said its MD-83, PJ-MDI (msn 49847), had secured the requisite permits from the Curaçao Civil Aviation Authority (CCAA) earlier in the week.
"For the last several months InselAir has been operating between the ABC island and Sint Maarten with a Fokker 50 aircraft, which is referred to as “Basic” scenario," it said. "The addition of the McDonnell Douglas to the fleet is an important first step towards the 'Basic Plus' scenario and will further fortify the [airline's] financial stability following a major internal reorganization."
Under its business restructuring plan unveiled in August this year, InselAir said it would use its McDonnell Douglas fleet to St. Maarten initially with Paramaribo International (Suriname), Georgetown Cheddi Jagan (Guyana), Port au Prince (Haiti), Santo Domingo Las Américas (the Dominican Republic), and Barquisimeto (Venezuela) to follow in November. Thereafter, the jets will then be used restart flights to Kingston Norman Manley (Jamaica), Las Piedras (Venezuela), Medellín José Maria Córdova (Colombia), and Manaus International (Brazil).
As it stands, PJ-MDI is currently deployed on InselAir flights from Curaçao to St. Maarten with the Fokker Aircraft servicing the ABC island route which connects Aruba with Bonaire and Curacao.
InselAir is in the process of recovering from a financial crisis caused, in part, by its inability to access USD70 million worth of revenue blocked in Venezuela. Earlier this year, the carrier was forced to shut down and liquidate InselAir Aruba (Aruba) after the unit failed to satisfy the financial criteria needed to maintain its AOC.
