After almost three years ,Winair is again offering direct flights from its hub in St. Maarten to Dominica.
This time around the route is being served by newly acquired ATR 42 aircraft with a capacity of 48 passengers.
Winair had made its first commercial flight to Dominica from St Maarten in 2010 but services to the island ceased in March 2011 due to financial problems.
On February 15 the airline began three weekly fights on the 340-kilometer route to Dominica using its new aircraft.
Winair has also added Gaudeloupe to its destination as part of an agressive fleet expansion excercise.
“We are optimistic to announce our expansion program with additional aircraft and destinations,” President and CEO of Winair, Michael Cleaver, said. “We are expanding our wings to new and exciting destinations, giving the people of St. Maarten and the Northern Caribbean more destinations to choose from.”
He said the new flights will offer visitors additional connections to more islands in the Caribbean from the Princess Juliana International airport which serves as a hub connecting with Europe, North America and South America.
I’m waiting for Hummingbird air? How much longer to FAA approval?
welcome win air! a STTX to SXM will be geat with a connection to DOM. However not not forget we need two thousand more runway feet
more confidence in our govt
So you’re celebrating winair and bvi airways is leaving. They have been canceling all their smx to dom flights. Why that not on the news
The Winair ATR42 has more passenger capacity than the BVI planes. Maybe in order to persuade Winair to come here the Govt. had to make a concession by withdrawing or limiting the BVI permit. Who knows, such things do happen. Soon there will be an alternative service from Hummingbird Air, operating between St. Maarten and Canefield , albeit with a smaller plane than BVI or Winair.I don’t see this as a threat to the latter
Actually BVI Airways was illegally certified in the BVI when they started, 2 inspectors were fired for doing it. They were running a US registered airplane on a BVI certificate for 2-3 years when it is usually only allowed for 6 months. Their time to get things straight was up the got three years to get it straight. They did not. We will see what they do. Aviation needs to give opportunities to the countries respective nationals instead of ” First World” countries citizens taking advantage and milking the Caribbean dry and leaving its citizens with no way of expanding them self or having “First World” opportunities.
Does that mean Dominica don’t need an international airport?
I’m soo happy
I’ve been waiting for this for soo long!
We love winair. We had a great experience with winair when we travelled to Dominica via US Air and connected in SXM. The staff was very helpful to us and our kids. This raise the question of do we really need an international airport?
I think if DOM can get a serious contract with a major airline for connection via SJU and SXM we will be ok for a while.
What is DA national debt?
What is DA national budget?
What is DA population?
How much would it cost to build an international airport?
These are the questions we need to ask ourselves.
Thank you very much, at least someone is seeing the big picture here and is thinking out of the box.
The BVI does not have an International Airport but have arrangements with Airlines such as CapeAir and Seaborne to offer hassle free connections into the BVI from San Juan.
You do have a point there. Provided they increase the frequency to a daily service and have interlining agreements with connecting carriers in St. Maarten I could support this notion.
We can do without an International Airport! Why? because of an economic and finance,marketing and management analysis.
Our present Melville Hall Airport is meeting our need. After all, 70,000 population, almost no industries and present Government Annual Revenue and Expenditures, and National Debt, are major concerns.
Who will be paying for those debts? Please, No International Airport!
There are enough International Airports nearby, like in Antigua, Barbados, St.Lucia, Guadeloupe, and Martinique. The Caribbean Private Airline Companies need to market and manage more effectively and meet passengers need.
Regards,
Vincent Rolle, Houston, Texas, Laudat, Dominica
i agree with you and your comment
great point here , good question i love this point of view
thanks jah no more antigua for whole day
sad to say..my sis has been stuck in sxm fro 4pm uptil now (10 pm) waiting on a connecting flight to tortola…we don’t know how to contact her. so things still need some work here
next time tell your sister winair flies from St. Maarten to Tortola.
Now only if Seaborne can get a same day connecting flight with AA in PR then going home will be a breeze now with this other option.. Good move..
I thought that was the case. I travelled with Seaborne last year June and had a same day connection with AA. Also had no problems on my way back.
I’ve had that already but not all of the early flights from the north east, even AA connect the same day to Seaborne. I believe only Jetblue can get you the same day connection sometimes. But I love seaborne nonetheless.
From Miami perhaps, but that isn’t possible anymore from most other destinations
The more the Merrier, completion is good once it is fair. Hope there is enough to go around and all can be sustained for long period of time. That’s hoe we like it. No chest beating, no political mileage, lets just do our thing, by the works we shall judge them. Welcome! Win Air!!!!
OPPS!!!! TYPO COMPETITION! good was so excited.
@Admin: From your story I quote “Winair had made its first commercial flight to Dominica from St Maarten in 2010” Is this true? I may be wrong but I swear Winair operated from Canefield Airport in the 90’s
@Asterix: You are so right. Winair operated out of Canefield to St. Maarten in the 90’s and in 2003.
On another note hope this time it will last longer. Winair has a reputation of operating out of DA for short periods of time and then pack up and leave.
Win-air did start flying commercially to Dominica in the 90’s in and out of canefeild with their Twin Otter 19 seater from St.Lucia ans St. Marteen. I fly on with them regularly in and out of canefield and a few times out of melville hall…
dont forget about europe, arriving from europe to dominica in one day!!!! this would be really amazing, and a real boost for tourism in DA!!! and a likle competition for liat, so maybe they going also to schedule a (early) evening / late afternoon flight from one of the euro-caribbean hubs as gwada or st marteen. like this even a week vacation in DA makes sense for european tourists, (its hard when you have to travel 3-4 days out of 7 days vacation as it is the situation right now, but leaving saturday / arriving saturday and returning saturday / arriving sunday morning, thats normal for european tourists)
Well said. And this is already possible.
Flights from Paris ( air france and air caraibes) and Amsterdam ( KLM) reach St Maarten in time to connect with the winair flight inbound and outbound.
Europe is now able to connect directly to Dominica in SXM.
SXM is the new best hub for Dominica .
We did promise bigger and better service to DOM. I think we have started to deliver:
To: Winair Customer Relations
Subject: COMPLEMENTS, COMPLEMENTS COMPLEMENTS
I traveled from St. Martin to Dominica on Tuesday 18th 2014 on the Winair flight. I had arrived from JFK on US Air who had informed me that they had an agreement with Winair( I am still looking into this) and my bags would have been booked straight through to Dominica. They were not and I had to pay for my bag from JFK. Landed in SXM, from the customer service in the baggage area to the Plane and OMG what a flight, courteous flight attendant and OMG we were served with a sandwich and juice. I could not believe so I asked how much it cost because even on AA, and USAir, ( the flight was abut 3.4 hours) unless you fly first class you have to pay for food. The plane was clean and tidy and the flight was smooth.
Everyone on the flight was amazed at the customer service.
This is my new airline of choice for traveling to USA and Europe as there sre so many connections from SXM to USA, Europe.
BRAVO WINAIR. I wished you had more routes in the Caribbean.
Congratulations and keep up the Good work.
Warmest Regards
Helen Francis Seaman, PhD, MA, MS, BA, DipEd
What is the point of all the letters behind your name? Are we supposed to be impressed?
So what difference does it make if you did not have a PhD, MA, MS, BA, Dip Ed? Stupess
Hahaha, we have so many PhD’s already in Dominica may she think that title alone is not enough to give her a free sandwich?
Dependable Service.(Helen Francis Seaman)
Hello and good morning to you. Hi is that your educational credentials you listed. Well can you please tell me why then you couldn’t navigate the Web to get a flight where your luggage is automatically transferred. If not then what is all this education worth.
if the docta endorse them, i flying dem
can i get the website for this airline please?
http://www.fly-winair.com/
All these airlines should have connecting flights with delta airline, I tried to booked a ticket on delta airline to Dominica and I was disappointed Dominica not on the destination list, Delta is the top airline now in the U S.
Hi Dahman
You can book using Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz and they will sell you the DL and WM flights as we have an agreement with them, so one ticket, baggage checked thru all the way and you can check in online for both Carriers, the possibility is there
Thanks
Claudio
I know everyone is going to jump all over me for this, but I just traveled with LIAT to Barbados and back. I had to catch an International flight in Barbados and was a nervous wreck wondering if LIAT was going to make me miss my flight. I have to say they were on time, courteous and the new planes are awesome. Maybe they’re heading on the right track now…..
hope they stay afloat,US SXM DOMINICA SUCH GLORY,WONT HAVE TO SEE THE STINKING ISLAND OF ANTIGUA.
Me too. The answer to them staying afloat is marketing and good service. Concentrate on its identified hub activity until doing business with them becomes fluid and second nature. And the sky will be the limit.
be thankful, it has served us well.
I see you using past tense. Well, don’t forget is not anything they giving us for nothing. Is our money we pay for service and if we don’t get it we have every right to complain. Using Barbados now if I have to go to the U.K., even if it is a bit more expensive, to avoid Antigua.
Great news. I can fly to St. Maarten and connect on US Air and get to the United States. More options for travellers to and from the US.
good
very good for the country.
you seem to forget this is winair 3rd time cominig? the stick around during the busy period and when things get slow they just don’t show up and the same liat u guys like to bash had to pick up the pieces.. hope you guys don’t eat your vomit
Winair isnt leaving this time.. WInair is spreading wings throughout the islands with larger aircraft.
Good for DA.
costumer service often improve when there is choice
That’s very good news for the island. Since we are on this subject, DNO can you give an update on CIT airline which was supposed to start offering direct flights from FT. Lauderdale International to DOM International in January 2014? Can you tell us how many of the said flights have landed thus far and the amount of visitors so far? Actually with carnival around the corner things will really pick up
Are you trying to be funny?
That was never a flight of the Phoenix but a flight of Fancy. Don’t believe everything you read, especially if it is promoted by a Govt.
costumer service often improve when there is choice
So true anonymous! !
Thumbs up on this venture
Great competition for liat and this will also generate employment for Dominicans So welcome Winair nice flight efficient service