Opinion by Nelson Ramiz

InselAir, in my opinion, lies when it says it is negotiating with a “strategic partner”.In recent weeks we have seen how KLM and TUIfly have cancelled their agreements with InselAir for “reasons caused by concern about the lack of maintenance on InselAir’s aircraft” since those airlines did not want to put their passengers at risk.

It seems to me like children’s play talking about the strategic association with an airline like InselAir that is public and would note its “critical and delicate financial situation on the brink of bankruptcy with more than 70% of its paralysed fleet thrown into junk.”

I am aware that companies like Avianca are not interested and it is natural that InselAir would not contribute anything to the Colombian airline. Avianca could operate the InselAir routes of it’s in their interest since the Colombian airlines have rights of 5th freedom in the bilateral with Curaçao. This means that if they want, Avianca could continue its flights to destinations like Miami, Santo Domingo, Sint Maarten and even Suriname. But that is not Avianca’s model. It is better for Avianca or any other operator to reach an agreement with the government to receive a new debt free certificate and commit to hiring all employees.

It’s better for the state to support an initiative where there are negotiations with an operator at an international level that has the resources to start an airline from scratch.

Saving InselAir only favours its private shareholders who will continue with its wrong model and any money they lend or put into that oxidised and bottomless barrel would like throw water to the ocean. The politicians once again encounter the problem of saving some private investors that have driven the company according to their criteria and decisions only under the pretext of saving jobs.

I wonder if that money was from the politicians and not from the people of Curaçao, would they still save their InselAir friends … I assure you they won’t!

Bron: CuracaoChronicle