AIRPORT – Winair announced on its Facebook page on Wednesday that it has ceased operations to a number of destinations with immediate effect.
The airline informed its customers that due to financial constraints at Winair and to “keep the company open and operating,” Winair will no longer service the islands of Trinidad, St. Lucia and Montserrat.
Service to Barbuda has been reduced to one flight per day and will also be stopped shortly. Dominica and Tortola will continue to operate until March. Exact dates on the route closures will be given. Service will continue to Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Barths and Nevis. “We are also discontinuing our JetStream service once the above-mentioned routes come to a stop.”
Winair will also be reducing its Twin Otter fleet from four to three aircraft “due to the shortage of available Twin Otters in the world and the soon retirement of one of our aircraft as it is high on cycles.” The JetStream aircraft is also expected to be taken out of service when service to Dominica and Tortola ceases.
These moves were expected as part of government’s initiatives to save the company from financial failure. The members of the Supervisory Board of Winair have been asked to tender their resignation in a move that should facilitate the establishment of a change management team, a new management and operational structure
At least two reports on Winair concluded that in order for Winair to regain operational profitability, the airline must, as a start, go back to its core calling of servicing minimal destinations (Saba, Statia, St. Barths) before expanding to new destinations.
Additionally, these reports outlined that Winair must find ways to increase income structurally, decrease expenditures structurally, re-examine the type of aircraft it utilizes and how many aircraft it has in service and what the airline realistically requires in terms of human resources.
“The team at Winair apologizes for this interruption in service as we had to make these drastic decisions to keep the company alive. We do thank everyone for supporting us over the past few months and who continue to support us as this is not the end of Winair,” the company said on its Facebook site.
it is high time that caribbean people think different, liat is basically owned by st Vincent, Antigua and Barbados. Barbados is promoting its tourism to the max. when any other airline comes or try to come they are the first to just and say all sort of things, caribbean airlines basically don’t have the rights to fly in any other islands other than Antigua, Trinidad, Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica with the jets. Caribbean airlines have been operating flight to Barbados both with the jets and dash 8 planes like Liat, from routes in Tobago, yet when they try to expand to other islands using the same dash 8 Barbados is the first to jump and talk.y can’t Caribbean operate in other islands and they can operate in Barbados with dash 8’s?, its a struggle to go to st Vincent and Grenada yet the prime minister of st Vincent not oening his eyes only his mouth.
Dominica once had air Guadeloupe/Martinique they are gone and there is air Caribe doing the same route and going further to Guyane with A300 and wide jets, how possible it is to speak to the folks of these airlines?, Dominica would get another avenue to travel easier to Europe.the nature tourism will be grow, now the roads are being fixed as i read, the sports tourism should pickup with cyclist training on roads. people continue to open ur eyes and look for new looks.stop talking and start to look for better things, read mat 13:16… the islands are to greedy and for themselves take a look at Barbados.
what we need is direct flights not island hopers like flights from miami to DA from new york to DA from boston etc like the other islands like st kitts babados st lucia SXM etc it is over due that is y dominica is going through all this problerms and u need good leaders to get that done not those present KAKA RAT
only reason dominica not movin forward is cuz of dominicans…wicked bias set of ppl….alu dunno how to appreciate….daz y winair backin out…..who wud want to invest in a country where its own ppl disgrace it in public…shame on u ppl…
Their reservation system and customer service was not the best but it was really nice to have an alternative to LIAT and American Eagle when booking international flights, especially as they had flights landing in Dominica after sunset.
However I flew on a late Saturday morning from Dominica to Antigua and there were only 3 of us on a plane which holds 18 so I’m not very surprised. The flight came in from St. Maarten with not many people on it either.
Did WINAIR commit an illegal act by flying person at night into Melville Hall airport when all the necessary instruments were not yet in place? Did WINAIR put people’s lives at risk? He who laughs last laugh the best. WINAIR’s irresponsible aviation MAKAKWI is just laughable. Soon after night landing to show that Skerritt and his incompetent DLP Govt. needed all the praise on earth for implementing night landing into Dominica, WINAIR is in financial difficulties? Give me a Break WINAIR. Fool yourself, not Dominicans.
You do not even know how stupid dumb and retarded you sound and look right now. SMFH. Get a Damn Life and please!!!!! Think before you flap your cyber gums all over the place making us look like DOTISH people.
At least everybody tried. They were not just sitting on their hands. Dominica’s topography is difficult for any such project. The plan was to use grand savanne until they found out that cross winds made it dangerous. So they tried something else. That is dangerous too. I dont think it would be financially viable to run a Ferry exclusively for Dominica so perhaps we should try to extend the licence of the existing Ferry Service to travel from Antigua to DA, because the sea is a level playing field. But there we might run into scheduling problems. Tall is Her Body is a difficult one to master.
I cannot belve these comments, i’m sure by now Dominicans will come tothe terms of agreement that it is difficult to operate Airline business i the region and y farrr , I believe that LIAT and BWIA has the best business model for Air Travel. The introduction of Government taxes plus millions paid for inconvenience of passengers must be paid back into the system.
Right now, Antigua , St Lucia, Grenada etc spends millions in subsidising seats on major Airlines to keep their Airport open, thats the challenges the region face right now. It’s time for Dominicans to cherish what they’re getting right now.
Stop blaming he Government, all of us praise them when Airlines are introduced to Doiminica and curse them when these Airlines fail.
Dominicans WINAIR cme wth the intention to gain dominance in the region using the wrong motive, the caribbean is more omplex than that and should not be taken lightly.
No matter what omes in the region, we still support LIAT.
Brother you sound confused and you must be. BWIA ceased to exist on the last day of 2006! Where have you been since then?
I hope the next time Blackmore bragging about a DAMN airline that it would last in DOMINICA ,it is time that TOO SHOW TOO FLAM stop in DOMINICA,WE PAPPY SHOW, but this is stretching a bad thing.
the writing was on the wall all that money to come here for the FAKE NITELANDING somebody should SLAP “BLACKMARE N SKERROT”.
More unemployment in Dominica…. and no night landing (even if I think this whole nightlanding thing was ridiculous my tax money was in it so I was really hoping that something would have come out of it!)
Your tax money was not in it.
Night Landing facilities and Airport Redevelopmentt, is funded by an EU grant of Euro 11millions.
TOO SHO TOO FLAM! and they disappear. Can we blame liat? cause in the end we all have to return to liat so the abuse will never end. Poor us.
alot of us are quick to laugh at this or turn it into a political scandal but we dont see the bigger picture. Winair though a small airline employed several people in different ways.Winair employed a staff of approximately 10 people, employed taxi drivers who would usually have to compete for the small number of people who travel on other airlines and while it might not have been fierce provided competition with liat in cheaper fares. so why go out there and laugh or say winair again, we as dominicans should realise that this is an opportunity to make a bold move for our country n bid for winairs liscense and provide the same service. or we can remain small minded and depend on daddy skerrit and politics to get us out of our misery.
i used winn last year..they robbed me by charging an extra baggage fee on the return part of the trip…i had the same amount of bags on the way down with no extra charge..just two bags…i will never use them again..im not surprised they are fading away..u cant rob people and stay in business when you’re a small company..
WELCOME TO THE NEXT LEVEL
ANYold stuff just drop it into dominica
the dominican people are blind
everyone love their party but i am
saying thatwithout a strong oppossition
in the house nothing will take dominica
to the NEXT LEVEL so 3 against 18 noway
its thim dominican open their EYES and put the
party in power with one or two in ahead of the other
partyso in case of any bad boys or girls in the house
can walk across like BANIS and THIMOTHY
GOOD LUCK WITH THAT.
sac sot
what does that have to do with winair’s financial ( money) problems?
Did you understand what you read? Why does everything have to be about politics even when the government of Dominica has no controll over a situation like that?
I think Winair need much bigger planes to travel passengers if the airline have to see any profits whatsoever.
To all Dominicans:
many of you all do not realize how vital a service that Winiar is producing towards the economy of Dominica. As a Dominican, it was so much a relief to not have to spend a single moment on Antigua. With Winiar there is an option.
So here is some information that I hope someone in Dominica can explore in a hope to continue the service.
Winair like a few other airlines have the rights to operate a plan service to many islands in the Caribbean. However due to a number of reason…..the primary being financial….they have been unable to consistently provide this service.So every now and then a company is contracted to provide that service . That is where the jet stream guys came in.The jet stream planes do not belong to the Winair company. They are owned and operated by another company who only flies routes which Winiar is suppose to fly using the Winair license.
Now since as of march this service will no longer be possible according to Winair, Some well connected Dominicans can get a license so that they can continue to operate. If successful, they can continue service the very same routes with the very same airplanes. The only change will be that they change base of operation from SXM to Melvin hall.
That means more jobs, more opportunity for Dominica. People this can be easily done. Stop the bickering and make this happen…..it will work
win air closing down because they have to find extra money to pay those pilots for risking there lives to land here in the night
haha
C. bruce, And you are happy about that? Haha to you, too.
If they had a route from DA to San Juan once or twice a week I think that that might work well for Winair and DA.
they put spell on marigot man? woman not good, sea wall not good, road not good alas praise and worship the make an effort.
welll better allu jus close down it doesnt make sense eh
lol, that was short lived. y’all aint traveling enough.
PAPA MET BUT WHAT JINKS WE HAVE THERE NOR. AFTER ALL THE POMPS AND CELEBRATION THAT TAX PAYERS PAID SO MUCH MONEY FOR THE ONLY NIGHT LANDER LEAVING US. WOW WOW WOW
Just say the company closing down and stop the runaround.
no its not…this is one of the oldest airlines (since 1961) in region, it just cannot maintain regular service outside the Dutch West Indies
WE NOT CLOSING, JUST RESTRUCTURING. SEE IF WE NOT COMING BACK FOR CREOLE FEST AND CHRISTMAS.
Old news….
I feel for the local Dominica employees before I can comment on any night landing. As a frequent traveler for business this is going to cost me. I was just starting to get accustomed to not overnighting in Antigua (worst place on earth to overnight). now here comes the politics…just waiting for some small-minded bloggers (who actually don’t travel) to comment.
oh yeah
I’ll be first in line
What a waste o a hundred million dollars
he he
Winair has started and stopped so many times they tired make pappyshow with people…. and as for that night landing thing….. LOL
interesting, very interesting……
Dominicans i urge you if you want change in your travel options please patronize the small airline, or else liat and american airlines will always take advantage of us
american is the best, customer service, professional, safety, and hey they are the only ones with the most baggage allowance out of dominica.so it worth the price of the fares.freeness is headache, just like cheap.winair was doing so great, more options.but what happened!!!i hope the employees get another job,
You must be out of your damn mind. an AA flight from PR to America cost about $1000 round trip for 2 tickets. IT cost about $950 to just get to PR from Da round trip 2 tickets.
In all almost $2 grand for round trip all together.Give me a break AE is a joke we need competition.If we had a str8 flight in and out things would be better.
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY…….WINAIR ALONE DAT LANDING IN DE NIGHT AND THEY WANNA STOP….EBEH…..ALAS…..
WHAT A SHAME…. BEST THEY GIVE ME ONE OF THOSE PLANES, AM SURE I COULD TURN A PROFIT FROM IT.
You mean no more night landing at Melville Hall airport after March? WINAIR was the only airline landing there after sunset.
Poor DA!!!!!!
Too Bad!!