AMSTERDAM–The grounding of the majority of the aircraft of the Curaçao-based airline InselAir has caught the attention of the Dutch media. The national broadcasting company NOS and the financial newspaper Financieel Dagblad (FD) reported on the issue.
NOS reported on Sunday that Curaçao aviation authorities had grounded almost all of InselAir’s aircraft, mostly the jets, in Aruba and Curaçao because of safety issues. NOS spoke of a “crisis” in Curaçao. On Monday, the FD had a similar article.
The media referred to recent safety-related incidents. Last week an InselAir flight from Miami to Curaçao made a precautionary landing after problems with the cabin pressure and pilots of the aircraft refused to take off from St. Maarten because they deemed the aircraft unsafe.
According to the NOS and FD, InselAir cancelled most of its flights on Saturday for technical reasons before the measure of the Curaçao Aviation Authority was announced to ground 80 per cent of the fleet. It concerns several MD-80 jets and a Fokker aircraft pending the necessary inspections. The media spoke of six aircraft in total.
The business travel news website zakenreisnieuws.nl reported on Sunday that the grounding of the aircraft came one day after the signing of the NAf. 33 million loan agreement between the Curaçao Government and InselAir to keep the airline afloat and to prevent a collapse of the inter-island connections.
It is unclear how many passengers have been left stranded since the grounding on Saturday. The media stated that InselAir’s website provided no information to the passengers, while many of them are stranded in Curaçao and other destinations. The already financially troubled airline has had to put large groups of passengers in hotels.
Surinam Airways SLM Director Robbi Lachmising announced in the Suriname newspaper De Ware Tijd that his airline is willing to help InselAir with the transport of the stranded passengers. “We will certainly cooperate if they ask us,” he said. So far, InselAir has not sought SLM’s cooperation. In 2007, SLM assisted by temporarily taking over the InselAir network when the MD-83 of this airline broke down.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/63268-dutch-media-reports-on-inselair-crisis
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