| Dutch Caribbean Airlines | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| IATA K8 |
ICAO DCE |
Callsign Dutch Caribbean |
| Founded | 2002 | |
| Hubs | Hato International Airport | |
| Fleet size | 15 | |
| Destinations | 17 | |
| Parent company | DC Holding | |
| Company slogan | Bridge to Curaçao | |
| Headquarters | Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles | |
| Key people | Mario Evertsz | |
| Website: http://www.flydca.net/ | ||
Dutch Caribbean Airlines was an airline based in Curaçao of the Netherlands Antilles. This is a list of Airline codes. The table lists the IATA airline designators the ICAO airline designators and the airline call signs (telephony designator This is a list of Airline codes. The table lists the IATA airline designators the ICAO airline designators and the airline call signs (telephony designator This is a list of Airline codes. The table lists the IATA airline designators the ICAO airline designators and the airline call signs (telephony designator See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. An airline hub is an Airport that an airline uses as a transfer point to get passengers to their intended destination Hato International Airport or Curaçao International Airport is the airport of Willemstad, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. A parent company is a Company that owns enough voting stock in another firm to control management and operations by influencing or electing its Board of directors Curaçao (ˈkjuːrəsaʊ in English Dutch: Curaçao, Papiamento: Kòrsou) is an Island in the southern Caribbean Sea, The Netherlands Antilles ( Dutch:) previously known as the Netherlands West Indies or Dutch Antilles/West Indies, is part of the Lesser Antilles Curaçao (ˈkjuːrəsaʊ in English Dutch: Curaçao, Papiamento: Kòrsou) is an Island in the southern Caribbean Sea, The Netherlands Antilles ( Dutch:) previously known as the Netherlands West Indies or Dutch Antilles/West Indies, is part of the Lesser Antilles It was founded after the dissolve Curacao's first airline, Air ALM. Dutch Caribbean Airline began its operations smoothly but went downhill with different problems during its time in service.
Contents |
History
Dutch Caribbean Airlines was actually established in 1964 as Air ABC (Air Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao) and the airline was later remaned to Antillianse Luchtvaart Maatchappij (ALM) to take over the services of the Caribbean division of KLM. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines ( Dutch: Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, literally Royal Aviation Company; usual English translation In the year 2000, ALM Antillean Airlines had deteriorated to the point where it just couldn't be kept alive. Air ALM was an Airline based in the Netherlands Antilles, flying out of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. Strong suspicions exist that froaud, corruption and stealing by workers and management were going on and the airline had built up an enormous debt of almost fls340 Million (guilders) in the years since 1969, when the Antillean government had taken over the shares from KLM. Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch gulden — from Old Dutch for 'golden'
The airline was succeeded by Air ALM, which was owned by the same DC Holding that owned ALM Antillean Airlines and later Dutch Caribbean Airlines. The ownerchip of DC Holding [assed from the Antillean governement to the Curacao island governement and was controlled by Fundashon DC Beheer (the "DC Beheer foundation"). It seems worker's rights were guaranteed by the Antillean governement.
After an interlude that did not last longer than a couple of months, it seemed that Air ALM could not survive, and a similar construction was used to transfer the airline's assets once more, this time to Dutch Caribbean Airlines. The airline officialy declared bankrupt in 2002. The new director, Mario Evertsz, was to prepare the company for privatization in less than six months.
In Aruba and later on in other countries, the company was named Dutch Caribbean Express (DCE), because the company name DCA had already been registered. Between the end of ALM in 2000 and the near end of DCA in 2004, the personel of the airline shrunk from 1000 workers to anout 500 workers.
The Mid-Atlantic war
KLM's final joint activity with ALM/DCA was when KLM invested in the airline's new catering building. At the time KLM was still using Curacao as the connecting hub for it's South America-Europe flights, which was an extremely profitable operation with a traditional cooperation between KLM and ALM/DCA. But later-on, DCA itself began competing with KLM on the Curaçao-Amsterdam flights with Holland based, Dutch Citybird. CityBird was an Airline founded in 1996 and based in Brussels, Belgium. But Citybird went bankrupt and Sobelair (a division of belgian Sabena) was followed up as DCA's partner. SABENA was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001 with its base at Brussels National Airport.
Other airlines joined the fray, such as Holland based Air Holland. Holland is a region in the western part of the Netherlands. A maritime and economic power in the 17th century Holland today consists of the Dutch provinces of It also began flying Amsterdam-Curacao with prices as low as fls245. DCA arrogantly kicked out travel agencies that sold the competing Air Holland tickets. But later on Sobelair went bankrupt and DCA had no choice to turn to none other than Air Holland. Sobelair is the oldest Belgian Charter airline. While operational it was based out of Brussels Airport. DCA desperately tried contracting other charter companies, but had no such luck, the airline left passengers stranded in Amsterdam and Curacao. The airline began lacking the resources and even moneyto fullfill their obligations.
KLM’s revenge
KLM now decided that it had to take revenge against DCA for betraying them and began to lower its prices and moved its South American stops to Bonaire, therefore ending the use of Hato International Airport as a hub. But KLM did not stop flying to Curacao altogethe, it kept on flying to Curacao as a regular destination. But Bonaire itsef is not benefitting as much as you would since the island is stuck with the cost to extend its runway and airport building to suite the new KLM flights. Today, KLM still uses Bonaire as a hub for its South American flights and is in the proces of using the new and improved Boeing 777 for its international flights to South America. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout
The demise
IN the early years of 2000, a new airline was introduced in Curacao. Divi Divi Air, an air commuter with daily flights between Bonaire and Curacao and also offered charter flights between Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao and Venezuela. Divi Divi Air is a small efficient airline high in frequency big in service With the introduction of Divi Divi, DCA began its downfall, but still maintaining its operations. But in 2003, a new airline began flying between the ABC islands, as well as St Maarten, another DCA destination. BonairExel began competing against DCA and it operated under the Exel Aviation Group. Bonaire Express was an Airline based in Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles. Eventually DCA's partner out of desperation joined the Exel Group and was renamed HollandExel. When BonairExel began competing against DCA, DCA had to lower their prices to almost that of Divi Divi Air's level, and forced BonairExel to fly that cheaply as well.
While under Mario Evertsz's management, things grew even worse and fast. Instead of preparing the airline for privatization, as he was instructed to do, DCA started the competition with KLM on the Curacao Amsterdam route and began buying and leasing more and more aircraft. This led to the re-use of the Twin Otter and acquired 4 leased DC9-30s. After the danw-fall of Sobelair and the Air Holland fiasco with Exel Aviation, the airline began leasing other large ranged aircraft to fly their international routes. The airline leased a L-1011 and a B767 for their flights but that ended up throwing DCA of the cliff for good.
By 2004, things were so bad that the airline applied for several loans to keep the airline steady. The airline eventualy got them and received fls37 million and it was used to enable the company to continue operating
In july 2004, only one DC9 was left in operation with the rest of its MD80 & DC9 aircraft where grounded,, its Dash 8s were removed from its fleet and were replaced with the Twin Otters and the 767s and L-1011 were returned to their original operators. Mario Evertsz resigned as DCA's director -without any announcment- and he staid on as the director of the once planned Curacao Airlines and Winair.
In october 2004, the airline finally collapsed and by then DCA had cost the government of Curacao atleast fls800 million and is suspected to be much more. After the airlines demise, mot of its aircraft were either sent to other operator (e. g. one Twin Otter was sent to [[Windward Islands Airways|Winair), scrapped (e. g. one MD82 parked next to the hangar at the Curacao airport) and others still awaiting their future (e. g. one Dash 8 planned to be sent to LIAT but still no assurance). LIAT is an Airline based in St John's, Antigua. It operates high-frequency interisland scheduled services serving 22 destinations in the Caribbean
Today, DCA has been replaced with Insel Air and is also a MD80 operator, while Divi Divi AIr still operates the same fights under the same name and BonairExel has been reformed into Dutch Antilles Express. Dutch Antilles Express is a regional Airline based in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. The DCA breakdown was almost led to the third government crisis in two years on the island of Curacao.
Destinations
These are the destinations that were operated by "Dutch Caribbean Airlines" when the airline was in service:
Caribbean
Europe
North America
South America
Fleet
During the transfer of the airline’s assets from Air ALM , the airline aquired some of the Air ALM aircraft and later on received other aircraft for its own. Aruba is a -long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, north of the Paraguaná Peninsula, Falcón State, Venezuela Queen Beatrix International Airport, in Oranjestad, Aruba, is a fairly large aviation facility that has flight services to the United States, most The Dominican Republic ( Spanish: República Dominicana;) is a nation located in the Caribbean region and shares the island of Hispaniola with Gregorio Luperón International Airport (Aeropuerto Internacional Gregorio Luperón, also known as Puerto Plata Airport, is located in Puerto Plata, Dominican Punta Cana, named after a local cape is a region in the easternmost tip of the Dominican Republic. Punta Cana International Airport is a privately owned commercial airport in Punta Cana, eastern Dominican Republic. Santo Domingo de Guzmán (known as Santo Domingo population 2084852 (Metro (2003 estimated 2253437 (Metro in 2006 is the Capital and largest city in the "SDQ" redirects here SDQ is also the former callsign of a TV station in Warwick Queensland Australia Haiti ( English: ˈheɪ·tiː or haɪ·ˈjiː·tiː French Haïti a·i·ti Haitian Creole: PortAuPrinceTapTapjpg|right|thumb|270px|A taptap (shared taxi in central Port-au-Prince Toussaint Louverture International Airport is an international airport located in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Netherlands Antilles ( Dutch:) previously known as the Netherlands West Indies or Dutch Antilles/West Indies, is part of the Lesser Antilles The Island Territory of Bonaire ( Dutch: Eilandgebied Bonaire, Papiamento: Teritorio Insular di Boneiru) is one of five island areas Flamingo International Airport or Bonaire International Airport is an international airport located at Kralendijk, Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles Curaçao (ˈkjuːrəsaʊ in English Dutch: Curaçao, Papiamento: Kòrsou) is an Island in the southern Caribbean Sea, Hato International Airport or Curaçao International Airport is the airport of Willemstad, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. Princess Juliana International Airport serves the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin. The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (ˈtrɪnɪdæd ən təˈbeɪgoʊ is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying northeast of the South American Port of Spain is the Capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third largest municipality after Chaguanas Piarco International Airport is the main airport serving Trinidad and Tobago located in Piarco, a town in northern Trinidad, about 25 km Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Cologne/Bonn Airport ( German: Flughafen Köln/Bonn, also called Konrad-Adenauer-Flughafen or Flughafen Köln-Wahn) is an international The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is the Netherlands ' main Airport, located 20 minutes (17 Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the Miami International Airport is a public Airport located eight miles (13 km) northwest of the Central business district of Miami, in unincorporated Suriname ( Dutch: Suriname; Sranan Tongo: Sranan) officially the Republic of Suriname (traditionally spelled Surinam by Paramaribo (nickname Par′bo) is the Capital and largest City of Suriname, located on banks of the Suriname River in the Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport, also known as Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport, is an Airport located in the town of Zanderij, Venezuela (ˌvɛnəˈzweɪlə) officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish República Bolivariana de Venezuela) is a country on the Caracas (kaˈɾakas is the Capital and largest city of Venezuela. Maiquetia International Airport Simón Bolívar spanish, ( Aeropuerto Internacional Simón Bolívar de Maiquetía) is considered the most important and largetst airport Simón Bolívar International Airport of Maiquetia (Spanish Aeropuerto Internacional de Maiquetia Simón Bolívar) is located in Maiquetía, Venezuela Josefa Camejo International Airport, is an airport in Las Piedras, Venezuela. Maracaibo is the second-largest city in Venezuela after the national capital Caracas and is the capital of Zulia state La Chinita International Airport is an Airport located at Maracaibo, Venezuela. Arturo Michelena International Airport serves the fast-growing industrial city of Valencia in Venezuela two hours from Caracas (by car
Self owned aircraft
| Aircraft | Total | Passengers |
Registration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bombardier Dash 8-311 | 2 | 50 | PJ-DHE, PJ,DHI | The Dash 8s were replaced later on with the Twin Otters. The registration PJ-DHE was later changed to PJ-DHL and was sitting on the Gneral Aviation's ramp at Curacao for over three years with continual run up tests. The aircraft has now left the island. |
| De Havilland Canada Dash 6-300 Twin Otter | 2 | 19 | PJ-TOC, PJ-TOD | The Twin Otters were the replacement aircraft for the "supposed" aging Dash 8s PJ-TOD was sold to Windward Island Airways (Winair) and has been leased to Curacao's new regional airline Insel Air to replace the airline's Embraer 110-P1 Bandeirante when in maintenance or on leave for a C-Check |
| Douglas DC-9-32 | 4 | 115 | PJ-SNL, PJ-SNL, PJ-SNM, PJ-SNN | |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-82 | 2 | 152 | PJ-SEF, PJ-SEG | PJ-SEF currently resides next to the hangars at the Curacao Airport |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-83 | 1 | 155 | PJ-SEH |
Leased aircraft
When the airline began it's downfall, it began creating alliances with other charter airlines. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Insel Air International BV (Insel Air is an airline based in Willemstad, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. The Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante ( Portuguese: " Scout " is a general purpose 15-21 passenger twin- Turboprop light transport WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout One by one these alliances were broken because of the allied airlines themselves had declared bankruptcy. When it seemed that the airline culd not find a suitable airline to create an alliance with, the airline finally decided to declare bankruptcy. Here is the list for the leased aircraft:
| Aircraft | Total | Passengers |
Registration | Leased from | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 767-204ER | 1 | 181 | TF-ATY | Air Atlanta Icelandic | |
| Boeing 767-330ER | 2 | 218 | OO-SLR, OO-SLT | Sabena (Sobelair) | OO-SLR was repainted in the Dutch Caribbean Airlines livery, meanwhile OO-SLT stayed in it's original Sobelair livery. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Air Atlanta Icelandic is an Airline based in Kópavogur, Iceland. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Sobelair is the oldest Belgian Charter airline. While operational it was based out of Brussels Airport. |
| Lockheed L-1011-500 | 1 | 234 | CS-TMR | Luzair | CS-TMR is still operating for Luzair |
Aircraft Names
While flying for ALM, all of the aircraft in their fleet had a it's own name, most names where taken up after local trees types of the islands. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Luzair - Transportes Aéreos SA is a charter Airline based in Lisbon, Portugal. After ALM became DCA, most of the aircraft had gotten ridden of their names, except for the MD80's. Here is the list of the names of the MD80's:
| Aircraft | Registration | Name |
|---|---|---|
| McDonnell Douglas MD-82 | PJ-SEF | Flamboyant |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-82 | PJ-SEG | Kibrahacha |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-83 | PJ-SEH | Watapana |
The airline leased the Lockheed L-1011 from Luzair and Boeing 767 from Air Atlanta Icelandic after a struggle with most of its MD80 aircraft grounded with technical difficulties and the collapse of Sobelair. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Luzair - Transportes Aéreos SA is a charter Airline based in Lisbon, Portugal. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Air Atlanta Icelandic is an Airline based in Kópavogur, Iceland. Sobelair is the oldest Belgian Charter airline. While operational it was based out of Brussels Airport.
External links
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