Curaçao aviation downgraded by FAA

January 09, 2012 3:03 PM

As local authorities had been anticipating, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has downgraded Curaçao's Civil Aviation from category one to category two and immediately listed Curaçao and St. Maarten on its Website accordingly with the new designations.

St. Maarten falls under Civil Aviation Curaçao while its authority is being set up.
 
While no major airline will stop servicing St. Maarten, local airline Winair has lost its code-sharing agreement with US Airways. The airline cannot maintain such an agreement with a territory that is not in compliance with international safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
 
Therefore, Winair had to rebook over the weekend passengers who had booked through US Airways with Winair as "Winair passengers" and has lost a key marketing directive towards US passengers. Through its partnership with US Airways, Winair had a designation of an American carrier with certain benefits that came along with that.
 
The code-sharing allowed a seamless transition from US Airways to Winair for any American passengers who wanted to go to a destination Winair services. Now, any American passengers who want to go to Saba, for example, will have to book with US Airways, disembark the plane once it arrives in St. Maarten, collect their luggage, go to the Winair counter and book a flight to Saba.
 
The downgrade also could give the major carriers some negotiating leverage with PJIA as the carriers in all likelihood will have to adjust their security protocols, which means increased cost for the carriers, because of the downgrade of St. Maarten. However, there was no indication of this as of press time on Sunday.
 
Minister of Tourism Franklin Meyers has reiterated lately that St. Maarten will do all it can to assist Curaçao in meeting regulations while continuing to set up the aviation authority here.
 
He said St. Maarten recently had hosted ICAO regional director Loretta Martin, who had assessed the ongoing process of setting up St. Maarten's own Civil Aviation Department and, according to the Minister, gave a positive assessment "of where we are right now."
 
"We are on a three- to five-year trajectory for having our own department set up and she (Martin) indicated that she is pleased with all information gathered and if we continue on the same path we will be able to meet our timetable. She will also not recommend a full audit by ICAO on St. Maarten for at least another year, considering that we just started and we're a new country," Meyers said.
 
The FAA had given the Curaçao Civil Aviation last September three months to "make concrete changes" to avoid being downgraded from category one standing to category two.
 
The FAA made its position known after it executed what is known as an International Aviation Safety Assessments (IASA) audit. The FAA is dissatisfied with the supervision of aviation in Curaçao. According to FAA, aviation authorities in Curaçao do not have enough current information on certain types of aircraft to be qualified to effect the supervision.
 
Furthermore, the FAA said Curaçao's laws did not include certain modern security requirements and the island did not have sufficient modern equipment or efficient inspection procedures. The FAA said inspections were being executed "good," but there various developments had been introduced in international aviation that had not been updated on the island.
 
The FAA not only wants to see new equipment and inspection procedures, but also a continuous upgrade plan for inspectors. Civil Aviation Curaçao can be upgraded to category one again after all stipulations have been met. There is no indication how long this process will take.

9 January 2012