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Founded | 1934 | ||||||
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Commenced operations | December 22, 1934 | ||||||
Ceased operations | August 1, 1964 | ||||||
Hubs | Curaçao, Paramaribo | ||||||
Focus cities | Dutch West Indies, Venezuela | ||||||
Parent company | KLM | ||||||
Headquarters | Amstelveen, Netherlands | ||||||
Founder | Albert Plesman |
KLM West-Indisch Bedrijf (WIB [1] or KLM West Indies Company) was a subsidiary of KLM, which operated flights within the Dutch West-Indies (Netherlands Antilles and Suriname) and their neighbouring countries.
Its foundation was made possible partly by the insurance of the Dutch PTT, who offered a lucrative contract for delivering mail to the Dutch Colonies. The first mail flight arriving from the Netherlands to Curaçao by the Fokker F.XVIII PH-AIS "Snip" on December 22, 1934, marked the beginning of the company. [2] [3]
Initially, the West-Indisch Bedrijf mainly flew from Willemstad, Curaçao to Aruba (with the first flight occurring on 19 January 1935), Venezuela and Jamaica in cooperation with Koninklijke Nederlandse Stoomboot-Maatschappij (KNSM). Only after World War II regular flights Amsterdam-Curaçao occurred. World War II itself was of major importance to WIB. Because of the oil refineries in Aruba, WIB became a major transporter and one of the best-run airlines of its day.
On August 1, 1964, the West-Indisch Bedrijf was transformed into ALM Antillean Airlines , in which the Netherlands Antilles became a shareholder. [4]
KLM West-Indisch Bedrijf operated the following aircraft: [5]
Aircraft | Total | Introduced | Retired | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Convair CV-340 | 9 | 1953 | 1964 | |
Douglas C-47 Skytrain | 10 | 1946 | 1960 | |
Douglas C-54 Skymaster | 8 | 1946 | 1954 | |
Douglas DC-5 | 2 | 1950 | 1951 | |
Douglas DC-6 | 7 | 1957 | 1963 | |
fokker F.VIII | 2 | 1937 | 1939 | |
Fokker F.XVIII | 2 | 1935 | 1938 | |
Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior | 1 | 1944 | 1945 | |
Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra | 4 | 1938 | 1948 | |
Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar | 2 | 1943 | 1948 | |
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