Another Curaçao airline bites the dust (see related story). InselAir thus followed in the footsteps of ALM, Air ALM, Dutch Caribbean Airlines (DCA) and Dutch Antilles Express (DAE). Except for the latter, most were government-owned and consequently seen by politicians as policy instruments instead of commercial enterprises, and/or overstaffed to gain votes.
That is not the case for InselAir, a private company into which taxpayers’ money was only pumped after things went sour, in an effort to try to save jobs and airlift, but ultimately to no avail. Arguably the main reason for the carrier’s downfall was the collapse of its biggest market in Venezuela due to the ongoing crisis there.
InselAir had not been able to get US dollars from tickets sales in the neighbouring country’s Bolivar currency from its foreign exchange agency Cadivi for several years. The airline nevertheless kept flying to Venezuela despite this and the outstanding amount rose to near US $100 million. The continued lack of this income took its toll in the end.
However, similar mistakes were made by predecessors, such as flying to the Netherlands. Competing with Dutch giant KLM on the mid-Atlantic route proved a bit too much.
These developments also serve as an important lesson for St. Maarten-based Winair, which has consistently been prudent and fiscally responsible in its approach. Bigger is not always better, and keeping both feet firmly planted on the ground certainly when entering into potentially costly ventures such as wet-leasing planes remains the order of the day.
Aviation is tricky business. In Greek mythology Icarus flies with wings made from feathers and wax by his father, but despite the latter’s warning does so too close to the sun, making the wax melt with the predictable result.
Keep it real.
