New airport terminal
is costly for Winair
AIRPORT--The new airport terminal building forces Windward Islands Airways International Winair to make financial adjustments. It also means changes for passengers.
“The new building is definitely needed. There is no two ways about that. But it comes at a cost that we don’t know we can bear,” said Winair’s Managing Director Edwin Hodge on Wednesday, the day of the new terminal’s operational opening. He said he was also happy that Winair had the honour of having the first flight operate out of the new building.
However, Winair’s cost of operating out of St. Maarten has more than doubled. “We are already making preparations to adjust the cost so we can survive this financially,” said Hodge, declining to go into details.
Hodge doesn’t agree with the way the airlines are being charged for making use of the Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE) system as well as the communication lines that airlines use. Winair had its own check-in counters in the old terminal building. The counter space at the new terminal building rotates, which for the airport means more efficient use of space.
Hodge made clear that Winair was not against the CUTE system, but merely against the way SITA, the company that provides the CUTE system and communication lines, charges the airlines. “We understand counter space is limited. CUTE was not a bad system,” he said.
The move to the new building also entails changes for passengers, at least for now. Winair is getting, as Hodge put it, “a double whammy” because its personnel have to work in a new environment with a totally new reservation and boarding control system.
Hodge asked people to be patient with his agents at the counter and apologised for the longer check-in times. He urged passengers to come to the airport earlier than they are used to when flying Winair, meaning at least 1½ hours prior to departure time.
He explained that the check-in and departure procedures were now more complicated and entailed a longer walk to the gate and transport to the aircraft by bus. He said luggage had to go through a more complicated screening process. There is also the vehicular traffic to face when coming to the airport.
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