DAE starts flights to St. Maarten from Curacao

Dutch Antilles Express will soon start twice-daily flights from Curacao to St. Maarten, marketing director Joaquin Duenas told the Antilliaans Dagblad yesterday.

The company will use an ATR 72 aircraft for the service. While this plane will need 50 minutes longer for the trip from Hato to Princess Juliana International airport, the airline will compensate its passengers for this by keeping ticket prices low. Duenas said that there is space for lower ticket prices because the ATR craft uses less fuel than a Fokker 100. Passengers will get a meal during the flight and there is an open bar offering alcoholic beverages.

DAE was sold for a symbolic dollar by Niek Sandman in December 2010 to Arnold Leonora, who abandoned the company. Nelson Ramiz of Falcon Air in the United States took control of the company a year ago. Since then, Duenas says, the turnover has jumped from $2.7 to $8 million a year, and staff grew from 190 to 350.

Duenas did not mention a date for the first flight. The marketing manager said that DAE will start servicing Paramaribo on November 19, on December 10 the airline will make its first flight to Bogota.

Source: Today November 2, 2012