as read above, i agree with some and dont'
in the first place, bonaire doesnt close at night, curacao <50nm away doesnt close at night, aruba 100 miles away does, but for emergency's it will allow to land.
klm doesnt need to carry too much extra fuel for diversions, venezuela is very close by, and its just another 30minutes flying. and as a matter of fact, it will overfly the northern antilles before it gets to bonaire and could land there if its a weather situation. for weather concerns, all the above mentioned airports likely be in the same weather.
another thing i didnt agree with was, cargo??? who brings cargo from europe to the caribbean, when usa is right there?
there is minimal cargo from europe to bonaire.
most cargo will go from south america via curacao to the netherlands. and those are mostly flowers, and steak. yumm
anyways,
i was told from an old timer klm DC10 cap, that klm doesnt fly the shortest routes (great circle). they will actually plan a flight according to the shortest time. looking at forcasted winds, and turn that into flight time, giving that last reply a fair chance thats whats happening.
i have seen that md11 fly a couple of times from bonaire to aruba climbing to fl160. which i can only justify with tailwind, good idle descend, fuel saving scheme.
but this is all speculations and constructive criticism.
so hope it helps !
