This Insel Air plane, slated to fly stranded DAE and Insel Air passengers to Curaçao Wednesday, was damaged when a baggage vehicle was backed into it Wednesday morning while it was at Princess Juliana International Airport. The aircraft was “ferried” back to Curaçao for repairs yesterday evening. (Gromyko Wilson photo)
Two damaged aircraft disrupt
St. Maarten/Curaçao route
AIRPORT--Passengers flying between St. Maarten and Curaçao had a harrowing Wednesday when two aircraft operated by different airlines were damaged and left them stranded for several hours at both ends of the route.
Trouble started when a connecting jet bridge at Curaçao’s Hato Airport damaged the door of the Dutch Antilles Express aircraft that was bound for St. Maarten early in the morning. This resulted in the cancellation of the incoming flight.
Curaçao-bound passengers for this flight were re-booked on an Insel Air flight that was arriving from Curaçao, said Roy Mingo of DAE handling agent Arrindell Aviation.
However, for passengers booked on both airlines, their troubles were about to worsen.
Shortly after the Insel Air plane touched down at Princess Juliana International Airport, two holes were punched close to the rear cargo entrance when the driver of the baggage vehicle misjudged distance between the vehicle and the aircraft, Windward Islands Airways International (Winair) Managing Director Edwin Hodge told The Daily Herald. Winair is the ground handler for Insel Air.
The aircraft cannot be repaired in St. Maarten, so the company received a special permit from the Aviation Department for it to be “ferried” to Curaçao without passengers yesterday evening.
The some 167 DAE and Insel Air passengers were accommodated on a second DAE flight that arrived later in the afternoon.
Insel Air passengers booked to travel to Curaçao today will be flown there aboard a leased Suriname Airways plane.
