ORANJESTAD- On Monday morning, the conference ‘A flight to the Future’ of the Dutch Caribbean Cooperation of Airports (DCCA) started at the Hyatt hotel in Palm Beach. The conference will run through Thursday.

In the context of the conference, participants from the six Dutch islands in the Caribbean will discuss ways to make aviation on the islands more sustainable. An important part of this is the ambition to fly completely electrically between the islands in the long term.

The kick-off for the conference was given on Thursday by transport minister Ursell Arends, who pointed out the importance of electric flying to make aviation sustainable. “I am also proud that Aruba is leading the way with the first electric flight taking off from our island.” 

As part of the conference, flights will also be made with Pipistrel Velis Electro, a lightweight electric aircraft that was specially transferred to Aruba for the conference. The directors of the 6 airports that together form the DCCA were already introduced to the aircraft from close by on Sunday afternoon.

MOU

At the end of the first conference day, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the six Dutch Caribbean islands, the Netherlands, the six airports of the Caribbean Netherlands and the Dutch Association of Airports (NVL). In the agreement, the parties agree to jointly investigate the establishment of affordable, efficient and sustainable air connections between Curaçao, Aruba, St. Maarten, Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, preferably with zero-emission flights.