All stranded InselAir passenger ‘home’ again

Suriname’s national carrier, Surinam Airways (SLM), recently announced that InselAir has paid its bills after SLM flew the stranded passengers back home. SLM director Robbi Lachmising pointed out that InselAir kept its promise and paid in cash. Meanwhile all of the passengers that were left stranded in Suriname and the region after InselAir had to cancel its flights have reached their destinations. Lachmising told Times of Suriname that the SLM flew about 150 passengers on behalf of InselAir. The director was reluctant to disclose how much the airline from Curaçao had to pay the SLM. The important thing to him is that the foreign airline kept its word. “After the 150 passengers had been transported, InselAir did not ask the national carrier anything else,” said Lachmising who added that the SLM is ready to lend a helping hand whenever InselAir needs backup. The SLM director pointed out that people must not thing that the national carrier wants to take advantage of the unavailability of InselAir in the region. The largest portion of InselAir’s fleet has been grounded for nearly month due to various inspections of its planes. Lachmising explained that taking on the flight routes of InselAir is not as easy as one thinks. Before it had to deal with serious problems InselAir reportedly flew to 22 destinations in South America, the Caribbean region and North America.

Lachmising also explained that the SLM only covers a few routes as part of a ‘pact’ with InselAir. The SLM can’t fly to various French islands or Saint Martin where InselAir has landing rights. “We did not sign any aviation pacts with those countries,” said Lachmising who added that the SLM has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Buza) to sign more aviation pacts with countries in the region. At the end of January all foreign flights of InselAir were cancelled until further notice. The foreign flights were cancelled after the departments of Civil Aviation of Aruba and Curaçao deemed it necessary to inspect all of the company’s big planes after a series of incidents which raised doubts about the airworthiness of the planes.