Willemstad- JetAir Caribbean, a new carrier based in Curaçao, is busy with tests fights needed to obtain their Air Operator Certificate (AOC).

These days the Fokker70 aircraft can be seen in various neighboring airports such as PJIA airport of Sint Maarten, the Queen Beatrix airport in Aruba and Flamingo Airport in Bonaire. It is still unknown when JetAir will be able to start with the execution of their flights.

According to Transport Minister Zita Jesus-Leito, the certification process is a lengthy, but necessary one. “Later this year our Civil Aviation Authority will be audited, and we must ensure that everything in a process like this is done according to established rules and regulations”, said Jesus-Leito.

Destinations

It is not exactly known as of yet what destinations JetAir plans on serving. Initially the carrier expressed interest to fly to Trinidad, Jamaica and various cities in Colombia. However, after the announcement by Caribbean Airlines (CAL, Trinidad) that they would start with flights between Port-of-Spain and Curaçao the route in question may actually be over served. This is especially true now that Surinam Airways has added an additional flight to Port-of-Spain bringing the total number of flights executed by the airline up to 5 times per week.

JetAir CEO Robert Maas recently stated that he expected the carrier to become operational in the third quarter of the year. Maas also said that they did not want to disclose the exact plans of the airline as of yet, taking into consideration that competitors may anticipate on the airline’s plan.

According to JetAir, they currently have a staff of about 30 employees, many of with were formerly employed by the now bankrupt InselAir.