Insel Air wants
minimum tariff
WILLEMSTAD--In connection with the request of Antillean Transport Minister Omayra Leeflang for comment on her plan to de-regulate the inter-island airline tariffs, Curaçao-based Insel Air proposed maintaining the minimum tariffs. A roundtrip ticket to St. Maarten should cost NAf. 444 and one to Bonaire NAf. 175.
The proposal is notable considering the fact that the same airline currently charges only NAf. 360 for a ticket to St. Maarten. Competitor Dutch Antilles Express (DAE) doesn’t want to hear about minimum tariffs.
The minister is considering the input of the airline companies and is taking her time. “I am not in a hurry to decide on anything. If necessary, I will also ask the Chamber of Commerce and the Curaçao business association VBC for advice. I have to get rid of the perception that I have a preference for one company.”
But Leeflang was dumbfounded when she heard Insel Air’s Chief Commercial Officer Edward Heerenveen’s criticism that she wants to kill the company. On the other hand, she is impressed with the professional operating procedure of Insel Air’s director Albert Kluyver and the introduction tariff of NAf. 360 roundtrip with a second ticket for half price.
“That’s what I call good operational management. They have a big airplane and this makes it possible to throw more than one tariff on the market.”
It was therefore surprising to her that Insel Air had proposed a minimum tariff. The company told the minister that this tariff was based on the cost price.
Notable is that DAE’s current tariff to St. Maarten is NAf. 447. “First they say, ‘We’re going to compete, because it’s good for the consumer.’ Now they want a minimum price. What’s still good for the consumer then?” wondered DAE director Floris van Pallandt.
The minimum price is, after all, not lower than the current lowest tariff. According to him, price fixing is absolutely wrong. “You will go to jail for this in America.”
Leeflang prefers to keep back. “I have to guarantee safety and make sure there is fair competition. I would like to see a price decrease on the route to St. Maarten. That would also be the case in the region. A liberated market is good for the consumer. A minister must not spoil the aviation landscape.”
St Maarten vacation rental
