Kluyver to resign as CEO at InselAir

Albert Kluyver, one of the founders and shareholders of InselAir International BV, will resign from his position after a transition period which has already started. Kluyver has led the organization in his role as Chief Executive Officer since the early beginnings in 2006. Under his leadership InselAir grew from operating one single 15-seater aircraft into an international airline serving 22 markets in the Pan American Region and transporting around 1.2 million passengers per year. Kluyver will continue his efforts, in his role as shareholder, to strengthen the liquidity of the company he co-founded by focusing on the repatriation of the outstanding funds in Venezuela and to find a strategic partner for the company. According to Bes Reporter, the government of Curaçao was planning on given the entire management team the boot. InselAir will have a new chairman of the management team. The new CEO of the airline will be the Canadian Gilles Filiatreault. He is appointed by the Curaçao government, which provided the airline with a total of 15 million dollars bridge loan so that, at least for now, they can keep their heads above water. The airline has reportedly received three million dollars from the government to remain operational. Filiatreault has extensive experience as an external consultant to various commercial airlines, including in the Caribbean. He will arrive in Curaçao next week and will make working arrangements with Albert Kluyver. Because of the government’s financial support, the voice of the interim CEO will be decisive in matters affecting the public interest. InselAir made headlines in the past couple of months due to the fact that it often had to opt for flight cancellations. Recent flight cancellations left many passengers stranded in various countries, including Suriname. The flights were cancelled recently because the departments of Civil Aviation decided to inspect the company’s planes due to safety concerns. The Curaçao Civil Aviation Authority (CCAA) grounded almost all the aircraft of the local airline InselAir during the weekend because of safety. The reason for the measure is a number of incidents with the aircraft. Flights from Curacao to Miami last week made a precautionary landing after the cabin pressure was lost. Passengers had to make use of the oxygen masks for a while. Furthermore, pilots of the airline refused to take off from the airport of Sint Maarten earlier last week because the aircraft was not in good condition.