Bonaire

[Herod]

A colleague of mine has been offered a contract with Bonaire in the Caribbean. Anyone know anything about them ?

[seat 0A]

Bonaire is one of the Dutch Caribean islands.
You are probably refering to the new Bonair Exel. This is a new feeder for KLM, flying between Curacao, Aruba and Bonaire.
This used to be done by the now bankrupt ALM.
Bonaire is now the major hub for KLM in the Caribean.

I don`t know what type they use, or how the management is.

[atr42500]

They operate Atr 43 and pretty soon Emb145 .
I heard Bonaire is a very nice place to live but very expensive and highly taxed .
So for sun bathing and diving:ok:
for saving money:{

[ormonde]

I cant see Bonaire being the major hub for KLM in the Caribbean as all the infrastructure ,refeineries, workforce etc are close by in Curacao. Bonaire is also not cabable of taking KLM's large jets.

Bonaire would be a great place to live if you are into Scuba or sailing and you are happy to live within a very small community.

Not a lush green Island, desalinisation is the order of the day in this part of the Caribs.

I lived in Curacao for five years and did not find it too expensive but of course it all depends on your package.

[seacue]

Bonaire has an unfortunately-high rate of breaking and entering residential theft.

It happened to an aquaintance who lived there, It happened to the tourists next to where I was staying.

Even with an island population of only about 11,000, finding the "usual suspects" and recovering the loot seems beyond the ability of the authorities.
SC

[metroman.nl]

Bonaire exel, operating under (DEE) Dutch Eagle Express.

Affiliated with Air exel Netherlands B.V. , KLM exel, Granda exel, Dynamic exel, etc etc.
All under shareholder IMCA from the netherlands (Major Real Estate company, CEO Eric de Vlieger)

Operating ATR42-320 (2, PJ-XLL, PJ-XLM) and EMB-145 (PJ-RXB)
Formerly these aircraft operated by Air exel Netherlands B.V.

Operation starting with ATR the 18th this month, after several startup delays. (political stuff going on in Bonaire) (AOC delays)

Runway Bonaire is majorly extended to cope with big jets, as KLM wants to switch hubs in the carab. due to high costs.

DEE (Bonaire exel) to operate feeders to aruba, curacao and st.maarten

Maintenance covered by EQM, also subsidiary IMCA group.

Schedule is available

SUMMER SCHEDULE

VALID FROM 18 AUGUST 2003 UNTIL 25 OCTOBER 2003
(LOCAL TIMES)



BONAIRE - CURACAO CURACAO - BONAIRE
DAYS DEP. ARR. FLIGHTNBR. ACFT DAYS DEP. ARR. FLIGHTNBR. ACFT
1234567 06.30 07.00 XT4300 AT4 1234567 07.30 08.00 XT4301 AT4
1234567 08.30 09.00 XT4302 AT4 1234567 11.30 12.00 XT4303 AT4
1234567 10.30 11.00 XT4304 AT4 1234567 12.00 12.30 XT4305 AT4
1234567 12.30 13.00 XT4306 AT4 1234567 13.30 14.00 XT4307 AT4
1234567 14.30 15.00 XT4308 AT4 1234567 15.30 16.00 XT4309 AT4
1234567 16.30 17.00 XT4310 AT4 1234567 18.00 18.30 XT4311 AT4
1234567 19.00 19.30 XT4312 AT4 1234567 20.00 20.30 XT4313 AT4



BONAIRE - ARUBA ARUBA - BONAIRE
DAYS DEP. ARR. FLIGHTNBR. ACFT DAYS DEP. ARR. FLIGHTNBR. ACFT
1234567 07.45 08.30 XT4320 AT4 1234567 09.05 09.50 XT4321 AT4
1234567 13.00 13.45 XT4322 AT4 1234567 14.20 15.05 XT4323 AT4
1234567 15.35 16.20 XT4324 AT4 1234567 19.10 19.55 XT4325 AT4



CURACAO - ARUBA ARUBA - CURACAO
DAYS DEP. ARR. FLIGHTNBR. ACFT DAYS DEP. ARR. FLIGHTNBR. ACFT
1234567 09.30 10.10 XT4336 AT4 1234567 10.45 11.25 XT4337 AT4
1234567 17.50 18.30 XT4338 AT4 1234567 16.55 17.35 XT4339 AT4

Issue: 30 July 2003 Subject to changes without prior notice


http://www.bonairexel.an

Greetz

[ormonde]

This could only happen in the cash-strapped Netherlands Antilles. You have an 11,000 ft plus runway 30 miles away with avtur supplied by pipeline from the nearby refinery. Now you need all the facilities duplicated in Bonaire, 112 square miles of it, at the whim of KLM. The old control tower/ passenger facilities will also need a complete upgrade..

I expect that our dear friends in the Netherlands will be expected to foot the bill. . . . or even the Brits via Brussels as the Antilles are a European dependency

As to crime, yes you do tend to live behind bars but in general it was not violent crime.