Miamix707 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 1, posted (7 years 7 months 3 weeks 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 1037 times:
Very sad to hear. By the way you write it sounds like they're done. Here in the states there are a few airlines operating after filing for Chapter 11, or.. well close to it. I don't know how that works with non-U.S. airlines.
What was their last day of operations?
First Air Aruba disappeared; now DCA. ..and MIA loses yet another airline... < starts to cry >
Chepos From Puerto Rico, joined Dec 2000, 5824 posts, RR: 14 Reply 2, posted (7 years 7 months 3 weeks 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 959 times:
Very sad considering the tourism indusrty in Curacao is very important and DCA was an important tool for this indusrty. ALM, Air ALM, and now DCA, are they going Chapter 7 or Chapter 11?
Chepos
MIAskies From United States of America, joined Jun 2004, 1300 posts, RR: 2 Reply 4, posted (7 years 7 months 3 weeks 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 907 times:
Although it is sad to see DCA (and all the other former neth.antilles carriers) go with the wind...it's time for change. I for the longest have felt that such small islands like Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao ..etc Should just have one carrier. KLM should have taken over long ago being that these islands are a part of the Netherlands. KLM should have started a KLM Island Hopper or something like that in the same fashion as their "city hopper" service. This definitely I think would have brought a strong and stable airline in the area capable of serving the tourist market from the U.S. as well as the Caribbean and offering great connections from KLM from Europe.
I for one welcome the EXEL Aviation group idea and hope it is here to stay. Although having so many branches of "EXEL" in such a small area is a bit much. Rather than just "DutchCaribbeanEXEL" and that's it!
GoAibusGo From Netherlands, joined Mar 2001, 250 posts, RR: 3 Reply 5, posted (7 years 7 months 3 weeks 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 888 times:
Exel Group is not making any profit, at least at BonairExel that is not the case. The IMCA-group has a lot of money to put in the company, but there seems never to money to buy spare-parts, office equipment, air-sickness bags, etc. etc. Maybe BonairExel is a super low-cost airline, but selling tickets at a premium (almost $100 return and going up in the near future for a 15 min flight in the ATR BON-CUR v.v).
And the service was even worse than DCA. The flight is ALWAYS I say always late and the aircrafts airconditioning-system doesn't work properly, so it always hot in the cabin.
You can find more info about BonairExel and HollandExel at pprune.com by typing "BonairExel" or "HollandExel" in the search column.
And yes DCA is gone, no "chapter 11" here.
I agree, KLM was a better company to take over here in the Antilles, but that can be done any more. KLM had an extensive cooperation with the airline in its ALM days. It's sad that it had to end. The working standards and flight- safety were the same as KLM at ALM/DCA as training was always similar, because of the (30 year of cooperation with each other). ALM pilots and F/As used to work on KLM's airplanes on the CUR/AUA-AMS v.v. and AMS-CUR/AUA-LIM/UIO/GYE v.v. ALM/DCA even had a cooperation of one year (for F/A) on Martinair in 1999-2000.
There is talkes of starting a new airline named "Curacao Airlines" out of the ashes of DCA. So there is hope.
Alektoronto From Canada, joined Nov 2003, 328 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (7 years 7 months 3 weeks 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 828 times:
I wonder why but is there a reason that KLM does not station a few 737's or Fokkers at CUR/AUA to offer regional service (a la AF Caribbean)? Did they ever do this? This would offer regional service and connector flights to the AMS flights no? Also the service and safety standards would be higher.
cheers
Alek
GoAibusGo From Netherlands, joined Mar 2001, 250 posts, RR: 3 Reply 7, posted (7 years 7 months 3 weeks 5 days 2 hours ago) and read 799 times:
KLM did this, but that was 40 years ago. ALM and subsequently DCA came out of KLM in the 1960s. Over the years the cooperation between KLM and ALM slowly became less and less over the years until 2001 when ALM changed into DCA and stood alone (without KLM) and did make it.....
I also wanted that KLM started (or resumed) operations here in the islands. KLM wanted to do this via Bonaire with BonairExel in 2003 (code-share agreement), but BonaiExel failed KLM's audit twice (if not three times). BonairExel was simply not up to KLM's standards and still is not.
757MDE From Colombia, joined Sep 2004, 1706 posts, RR: 7 Reply 8, posted (7 years 7 months 3 weeks 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 737 times:
Very sad to hear. By the way you write it sounds like they're done. Here in the states there are a few airlines operating after filing for Chapter 11, or.. well close to it. I don't know how that works with non-U.S. airlines.
Every airline has to apply to the bankruptcy laws of their respective country.
In Colombia for example there's a law called "Ley 550", it's a kind of Colombian C-11. Inter for example is amidst Ley 550 right now, and depending on the country's specific law an Airline might be able to continue operating while bankrupt or maybe not.
Not only that has to be taken into account, if an Airline for example files for ley 550, the COLOMBIAN law, then it is only protected for debts with COLOMBIAN creditors, and remember most airlines have the majority of their creditors outside their home countries (specially Lat Am and Caribbean airlines). In that case, operating while in bankruptcy would be impossible.
Now, some "law tricks" can be used, one example of that is Avianca, that got covered with United States' C-11 bacause they had a branch in the US called "Avianca inc" and thus were able to use US laws.
Please note I'm not a lawyer and this is the thing as far as I understand and could have some errors, if anybody has any corrections or things to add they're welcomed!.
I gladly accept donations to pay for flight hours! This thing draws man...
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