The Netherlands Antilles was a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The country consisted of several island territories located in the Caribbean Sea. The islands were also informally known as the Dutch Antilles. The country came into being in 1954 as the autonomous successor of the Dutch colony of Curaçao and Dependencies. The Antilles were dissolved in 2010. The Dutch colony of Surinam, although it was relatively close by on the continent of South America, did not become part of the Netherlands Antilles but became a separate autonomous country in 1954. All the island territories that belonged to the Netherlands Antilles remain part of the kingdom today, although the legal status of each differs. As a group they are still commonly called the Dutch Caribbean, regardless of their legal status. People from this former territory continue to be called Antilleans in the Netherlands.
Queen Beatrix International Airport, , is an international airport located in Oranjestad, Aruba. It has flight services to the United States, Canada, several countries in the Caribbean, the northern coastal countries of South America, as well as some parts of Europe, notably the Netherlands. It is named after Beatrix of the Netherlands, who was Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 to 2013.
The Lesser Antilles are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. They are distinguished from the large islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc which begins east of Puerto Rico and swings south thru the Leeward and Windward Islands almost to South America and then turns west along the Venezuelan coast as far as Aruba. Barbados is isolated about 100 miles east of the Windwards.
ALM Antillean Airlines, and later Air ALM, was the main airline of the Netherlands Antilles between its foundation in 1964 and its shut-down in 2001, operating out of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. It was based at Hato International Airport.
Winair is a government-owned Dutch regional airline based in Sint Maarten. Founded in 1961 by Georges Greaux and Hippolyte Ledee, It has a fleet of six aircraft serving twelve destinations, mostly within the Leeward Islands group of the Lesser Antilles in the North East Caribbean. It has its headquarters on the grounds of Princess Juliana International Airport.
Bonair Express was an airline based in Bonaire, Netherlands. It was the regional airline for the Netherlands Antilles and also acted as a feeder for DutchCaribbeanExel while under the BonairExel brand and part of the ExelAviation Group and later for KLM for its long-haul services to Europe. Its main base was in Bonaire, with focus cities in Aruba and Curaçao. It was merged into Dutch Antilles Express in 2005.
Kralendijk is the capital city and main port of the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean Netherlands. The language spoken in the town is Papiamentu, but Dutch and English are widely used. As of 2017, the town had a population of 10,620. In Papiamentu, the town is often called Playa or "beach".
Curaçao Express was a regional airline based in Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles. It operated services between the islands of the Netherlands Antilles, mostly flights between Curaçao and Sint Maarten.
DutchCaribbeanExel was an airline with its head office in Amsterdam. The airline connected from the Netherlands to the Netherlands Antilles and was based at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
Dutch Antilles Express B.V. was an airline of the Dutch country of Curaçao. It operated high-frequency scheduled services in the Dutch Caribbean to United States, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Haiti, and Suriname. Its main base was at Curaçao International Airport.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Netherlands Antilles:
Air Martinique was an airline based in the island of Martinique in the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. Its head office was on the grounds of Fort-de-France Airport, now Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport, in Le Lamentin.
The Curaçao national football team represents Curaçao in international football, and is controlled by the Curaçao Football Federation.
KLM West-Indisch Bedrijf was a subsidiary of KLM, which operated flights within the Dutch West-Indies and their neighbouring countries.
