Was a crisis averted here?

American Aviation Department confused about classification Curaçao and St. Maarten

read the Amigoe article above.


Apparently the old Aviation Authority of the former Netherlands Antilles has been left intact and for good reasons: ( (1) As one of the deplorable legacies of our previous position as an Island Territory of the Netherlands Antilles, SXM never developed the infrastructure or the expertise locally to operate such an authority.

(2) It might have been the choice between a  joint Authority or have the Dutch send in their people to take charge of the show. Not a very good idea. The only flaw I see with my limited knowledge of the situation is the need for the Authority to receive permission to conduct audits etc, if my understanding of the article is correct. Air Transport Security is too vital and in many cases of to great an urgency to have delays built into the system of inspection and decision making. We need let the Authority do its work and report to the Minister. Then begin working on setting up our own Authority.

On another point: Of course the FAA is confused. The Dutch system confuses the Rest of the World over and over again. Things like reducing the age of consent to 12 years and turning the concept of a coffee shop into hard drugs retail stores etc.

I am sure members of the United Nations are scratching their heads wondering what the hell are "Public Entities" such Saba, Sint Eustatius and Bonaire?

WILLEMSTAD — Due to a misunderstanding last weekend, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) almost downgraded the classification of Curaçao and St. Maarten, the shared aviation category, from aviation category-1 to category-2. Such a downgrade would mean the end of flights from the islands to the United States. Due to intervention of the Curaçao Aviation Authority (CLA) and the Department of Foreign Relations, the misunderstanding was elucidated last Monday and the original classification (category-1) maintained.

The downgrade, of which there was a question, caused a commotion since last Thursday because category-2 is assigned to airports with a questionable status of operation. The FAA assumed that after the dismantlement of the Netherlands Antilles, the shared category-1 of Curaçao and St. Maarten was no longer applicable and that the two countries should have a separate aviation supervisory organ as well as a separate rating category. The CLA informed the FAA that they were still the aviation authority in the field of supervision and registration of aircrafts on behalf of St. Maarten and that the code-sharing agreement is still effective. A choice was made for this construction at the end of last year by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Curaçao and St. Maarten.

CLA-director Vilmo Pieter explains that the FAA was informed last year, even before the political changes. “Something apparently went wrong within their internal communication channels and these developments certainly surprised us. We now have an agreement for an audit before the end of the year – in accordance with the International Aviation Safety Assessments (IASA) – which is scheduled for September 12^th. However, before this audit can take place, Curaçao and St. Maarten are to sign a MOU because we don’t have jurisdiction on that island and require permission,” says Pieter.

The Daily Herald on St. Maarten states that at the time of the misunderstanding, the FAA had at least notified one of the large American airline companies – the US Airways – on the degradation, which had an immediate effect on the flights from local airline company Winair, suddenly having to transfer their passengers to other flights. Airline Company US Airways restored the code-sharing agreement of Winair on Tuesday. The circulating rumors last weekend that the airport of Curaçao would be downgraded also confused the local media, assuming the degradation was related to the state of the airport and the current independent audit by CLA. According to CLA-director, the newspaper Ultimo Noticia made a ‘rash report’ on the matter, mentioning old citations on the ‘deplorable’ state of the airport, linking it to the current audit. In view of this report, the director of Curaçao Airport Partners (CAP), Albert Brunner, listed the many investments during the past year in improving the airport. The CLA-report on the audit is still afoot. Only a ‘draft’ version was forwarded to the Ministry of Traffic and Transport.

Were we close to having the above airline as our main International carrier out of St. Martin?

What's the opinion of our SXM Ministry of Traffic and Transport on this above article....  I have not seen anything to date in the local News papers..