| |||||||
Founded | 2000 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Operating bases | Princess Juliana International Airport | ||||||
Fleet size | 1 | ||||||
Destinations | 27 | ||||||
Headquarters | Philipsburg, Sint Maarten | ||||||
Website | www |
Windward Express Airways is an airline based at Princess Juliana International Airport in the island of Sint Maarten. It provides air charter and cargo services throughout the Eastern Caribbean.
Windward Express operates chartered and cargo flights to 27 destinations throughout the Caribbean. [1] The airline flies routes primarily to the Islands of St Barthélemy and Saba from Sint Maarten. It also offers day trips to Anguilla and Sint Eustatius. [2]
As of the summer f 2024, Windward Express operates a single Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander (registered PJ-WED). Thanks to its STOL (short take-off and landing) capabilities, the type is ideal for operations at airports with short runways in the Caribbean such as Saint-Barthélemy, Baillif, Les Saints, and Saba. [3]
Windward Express is one of only three airlines certified to land at Saba's short runway. [4]
Windward Express's fleet has contracted in recent years. The airline used to operate the following additional aircraft:
Aircraft | No. of passengers | Regristration | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Britten-Norman BN-2A-26 Islander | 9 | PJ-WEA | Destroyed in Hurricane Irma 2017 [5] |
Britten-Norman BN-2B-20 Islander | 9 | PJ-WEB | Under possible rebuild after crash in Feb. 2023. |
Piper PA-23 Aztec | 4-5 | PJ-WEC | Last confirmed flight: Jan. 2020 [6] |
On 13 February 2023, a Windward Express BN-2B-20 Islander (registered PJ-WEB) sustained substantial damage while landing at the Saba-Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport (SAB / TNCS). The aircraft struck the ground to the left and approximately one meter before the threshold of runway 12. With the main landing gear severely bent, the aircraft subsequently made a hard landing on the runway. The pilot, two passengers, and a dog exited the aircraft unharmed.
Weather was ruled as the main factor in the accident. Rain showers were reported in the area at the time of the accident, and a heavy downdraft likely forced the aircraft into the terrain. [7]
The airframe of PJ-WEB was subsequently dismantled on the apron of the airport, suggesting an attempt to transport and/or rebuild the aircraft. Satellite data from March 2024 shows the pieces of the airframe still at Saba airport.
The Britten-Norman Trislander is a three-engined piston-powered utility aircraft designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Britten-Norman.
The Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a British light utility aircraft and regional airliner designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. Still in production, the Islander is one of the best-selling commercial aircraft types produced in Europe. Although designed in the 1960s, over 750 are still in service with commercial operators around the world. The aircraft is a light transport with over 30 military aviation operators around the world.
LIAT (1974) Ltd, also known as Leeward Islands Air Transport Services and operating as LIAT, was a regional airline headquartered in Antigua and Barbuda that operated high-frequency inter-island scheduled services to 15 destinations in the Caribbean. The airline's main base was V.C. Bird International Airport, Antigua and Barbuda, with a secondary base at Grantley Adams International Airport, Barbados.
Pacific Airways Corporation operating as Pacificair is a charter airline based in Manila in the Philippines. It operates scheduled passenger flights, as well as air taxi services, and agricultural work. Its main base is Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila.
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. Since 1 March 2023, it has been a part of the Flying Blue frequent-flyer programme.
Princess Juliana International Airport is the main airport on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin. The airport is located on the Dutch side of the island, in the country of Sint Maarten, close to the shore of Simpson Bay Lagoon. In 2015, the airport handled 1,829,543 passengers and around 60,000 aircraft movements. The airport serves as a hub for Winair and is the major gateway for the smaller Leeward Islands, including Anguilla, Saba, Saint Barthélemy and Sint Eustatius. It is named after Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, who landed there while she was heir presumptive in 1944, the year after the airport opened. The airport has very low-altitude flyover landing approaches because one end of its runway is extremely close to the shore and Maho Beach. While Princess Juliana International is the primary aviation gateway to the island, there is also a smaller public-use airport on the French side, in the French Collectivity of Saint Martin, called Grand Case-Espérance Airport.
Flamingo International Airport, also called Bonaire International Airport, is an international airport located near Kralendijk on the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean Netherlands. It was once the hub for BonaireExel and CuraçaoExel before they were rebranded as Dutch Antilles Express, and served as a secondary hub for Dutch Antilles Express and Insel Air. The airport is the fourth largest in the Dutch Caribbean, after Queen Beatrix International Airport on Aruba, Princess Juliana International Airport on Sint Maarten and Curaçao International Airport on Curaçao and is now the largest airport in the Caribbean Netherlands, with F. D. Roosevelt Airport in Sint Eustatius being the second largest and Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport in Saba being the smallest.
Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport is an airport on the Dutch Caribbean island of Saba, Netherlands. Its runway is widely acknowledged as the shortest commercial runway in the world, with a length of 400 m (1,312 ft).
Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport, previously known as Beef Island Airport, is the main airport serving the British Virgin Islands, a British overseas territory in the Caribbean. The airport serves as the gateway to just about all of the islands within the BVI. The airport is also a gateway for inter-Caribbean travelers headed to the nearby U.S. Virgin Islands. Many travellers fly into Beef Island, with the intention of taking a ferry to the other smaller British Virgin Islands. The airport is located on Beef Island, a small island off the main island of Tortola, to which it is connected by the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge.
SVG AIR is an airline company located at the Argyle International Airport, Argyle, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines that operates both scheduled and charter flight services within the Eastern Caribbean islands as far north as Jamaica and as far south as Guyana.
Trans Anguilla Airways (TAA) is an air charter airline operating to and from Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport to points in the Caribbean.
Air Flamenco is a commuter airline operated by Air Charter, Inc., based in Puerto Rico.
Divi Divi Air N.V. is a small regional service airline in the southern Caribbean Sea island of Curaçao. Established in 2001, the airline was named after the divi-divi trees which grow in the region.
Gustaf III Airport, also known as Saint Barthélemy Airport, Rémy de Haenen Airport, sometimes as St. Jean Airport, is a public use airport located in the village of St. Jean on the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy.
Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport is an international airport of Martinique in the French West Indies. Located in Le Lamentin, a suburb of the capital Fort-de-France, it was opened in 1950 and renamed in 2007, after author and politician Aimé Césaire.
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.
Union Island Airport is the airport serving Union Island, Grenadines Parish, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It is located about 0.25 miles (0.40 km) from the town of Clifton, one of the country's main tourist centers and a major destination for charter leisure flights during the winter holiday season and Easter, for "Easterval" celebration. The airport serves as a focus city for flag carrier SVG Air and features flights to several short-haul regional destinations. It is the southmost airport of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Montserrat Airways Ltd, trading as FlyMontserrat, is an airline with its headquarters at John A. Osborne Airport in Gerald's, Montserrat. The airline flies from Montserrat to and from Antigua as well as from and to Nevis, with their Britten Norman BN-2 aircraft.
Caricom Airways, which stands for Caribbean Commuter Airways, was a regional airline from the Caribbean, with the headquarters of the company at Paramaribo, Suriname. From the down-town Zorg en Hoop Airport in Suriname, Caricom Airways mainly flew charter flights to various destinations in the interior of Suriname, the Caribbean and Northern Brazil.
Anguilla Air Services (AAS) is an airline based out of Clayton J. Lloyd international airport (AXA / TQPF) on the Caribbean island of Anguilla. The airline offers scheduled and chartered flights to numerous destinations throughout the Caribbean.