PHILIPSBURG, SANTO DOMINGO:—- AVA Airways St. Maarten, represented by its Chairman Olivier Arrindell and President of Ava Curacao, Giovanni Atalita, and Capital Partners, represented by Dan Smith have signed a 65-million-dollar Equity/Debt agreement on December 14th 2016 in the Dominican Republic.
This deal is an initial investment to start the aviation group of company of AVA Airways. From this 65-million-dollar deal, $20 million is immediately available starting January 2017 to finalize the process to initiate operations from St. Maarten and the Dominican Republic.
The representatives of AVA Airways indicated that the company will start operating to and from 15 countries in the Caribbean and Latin America. One of those destinations is St. Maarten and also to hub and spoke via its Ava St. Maarten company. The airline is currently in the process with the Aviation Authorities in St. Maarten and according to Mr. Arrindell the Authorities are now in the final stage of selecting a third-party. Mr. Arrindell indicated that he is positive and hopeful that his hometown and place of birth would evaluate the economic benefit to St. Maarten.
“St. Maarten will become our base of operations for the Eastern Caribbean and fits perfect with our East-west plan. Ava Airways has requesting a permit in St. Maarten since June of 2016 however is under the impression that the Government of St. Maarten is working as fast it can with the infortune it has in place to accommodate Ava Airways St. Maarten. Ava Airways would have full open operation in St. Maarten and there is nothing more emotional for Ava Airways to provide employment to the talented people of St. Maarten, ” said Arrindell.
AVA Airways will start with 4 aircraft type Airbus A319-200. According to Arrindell these aircraft are very comfortable for the passengers.
“The Capital Partner Team took its time to study our business model and concept over a six-month period and this resulted in the signing of the deal. “We also requested our economic permit in Curaçao in 2014 but for reasons purely political we weren’t able to receive this. Our request was rejected in December 2015 and we did appeal. We are still waiting for the Minister of Aviation in Curacao to answer our question on why our request was denied.”
Source: St. Martin News Network
Ava Airways Signed 65 Million Dollar Deal.
It is interesting to see what exactly was signed. Dan Smith of Bluedoor Capital Partners is an arranger of capital. They are not into equity and traditional financing. So, it is more likely that documents were signed to arrange their wishlist of capital instead of hard cash being committed. I have difficulties believing anything these guys say. Ava has a history of talking hot air all over the Caribbean but up to now, we haven’t seen a single Cessna delivering mail. 4 A319’s. Really? 3 years ago they were claiming to get a fleet of Bombardier jets. What happened? And then there is this. Ava Air is an existing airline on Martinique flying to Guadeloupe and Saint Barths. I wonder what they think about their name being copied.
Olivier is a proven liar and has substantial debts in Curacao he has yet to pay back originating from a loan provided by former top executive of Air Aruba who was himself convicted of stealing money: http://curacaochronicle.com/aviation/aruba-airlines-celebrates-courts-decision-de-swart-dismissed/