In the newspapers of January 17, 2013, Minister Romeo Pantophlet announces that one of his plans is to establish St. Maarten's own airline. I must publicly remind the Honorable Minister that St. Maarten already has its own airline; it is called WINAIR and the St. Maarten Government in which Minister Pantophlet is a very important player, is a 92.05% shareholder. I am sure that I speak on behalf of the present WINAIR Board of Directors, the present dynamic WINAIR Management Team and all the 126 proud WINAIR employees known as WINAIRIANS, when I say that I am puzzled to say the least. Last year the Government of St. Maarten designated WINAIR as its National Carrier, so maybe the government and/or the Minister plans to make funds available to grow this airline and simply misspoke. I certainly hope so.
Michael J. Ferrier.
Chairman of the (former) WINAIR Ad-Hoc Committee
