Helenair Caribbean

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Helenair Caribbean
Helenair Caribbean Beech 1900 MRD-3
IATA code : 2Y
ICAO code : HCL
Call sign : HELENCORP
Founding: 1987
Operation stopped: 2001
Seat: Castries , St. Lucia
Saint LuciaSt. Lucia 
Home airport : Castries-Vigie Airport
Company form: Limited
IATA prefix code : 687
Management: Joaquin A. Willie
Fleet size: 1
Aims: regional
Helenair Caribbean ceased operations in 2001. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation.

Helenair Caribbean (officially Helenair Corporation Ltd. ) was an airline based on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia that flew regional scheduled connections . The company, based at Castries-Vigie Airport , ceased operations in 2001.

history

Beechcraft 99 of Helenair on Union Iceland on 18 April 1994

The airline was founded in July 1987 by Joaquin Willie, a flight captain of the previously dissolved St. Lucia Airways , together with two other pilots under the name Helenair in Castries . With financial support from private investors, who also received company shares, a used Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander was acquired in the same year , with which the start of operations as an air taxi company took place. The company expanded rapidly and in early 1990 operated three of these aircraft, each with nine passenger seats. For the fiscal year 1990/91, Helenair posted gross profits of $ 867,169. At the same time, new partners were recruited who invested in the company and received company shares. The three managing directors founded a subsidiary of the same name in Grenada in January 1991 , to which they transferred a large part of the company capital. Several shareholders sued this approach. The company in Grenada rented machines from the parent company when required and ceased operations in 1993.

To transport larger groups of people on charter flights, Helenair leased a GAF N-24 Nomad from June 1992 , which offered space for 16 passengers. In the spring of 1993 this machine was replaced by two rented Beechcraft 99s . The company also put its first Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain into service and began phasing out the three Britten-Norman BN-2 Islanders. At the beginning of 1996 the company had 30 employees and used three Beechcraft 99s and two Piper PA-31s for on-demand flights. In the same year Helenair received international scheduled flight rights and joined the IATA . Scheduled flights to Barbados , Dominica , Grenada, St. Vincent and Trinidad began on July 1, 1997. At the same time, the brand name was changed to Helenair Caribbean and three leased Beechcraft 1900Cs were put into service, which replaced the Beechcraft 99. In 1998, the managing directors founded a subsidiary of the same name in Barbados, which did not own any aircraft, but only occasionally rented aircraft from the parent company.

Helenair was only able to use the three Beechcraft 1900C temporarily and replaced them in May and June 1999 with two leased DHC-6 Twin Otters . At the beginning of 2000, the company signed a five-year cooperation agreement with BWIA West Indies Airways and then carried out feeder flights for BWIA under its BWee Express brand . In spring 2001 the company only operated one DHC-6 Twin Otter. At that time, several investors and creditors were already fighting longstanding legal disputes against the company. The flight operations were discontinued in the same year.

fleet

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Saint Lucia Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court: Saint Lucia in the High Court of Justice (civil), Suit No: 521 of 1993 , accessed March 3, 2017
  2. ↑ JP airline-fleets international, Edition 90/91
  3. ^ A b c Saint Lucia Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court: Saint Lucia in the High Court of Justice, Suit No: 424 of 1993 , accessed March 3, 2017
  4. ↑ JP airline-fleets international, Edition 93/94
  5. ↑ JP airline-fleets international, Edition 94/95
  6. ↑ JP airline-fleets international, Edition 97/98
  7. ^ Aviation Week: Helenair Caribbean To Join Scheduled Regional Ranks; Eyes 30-Seaters, Jets , accessed March 3, 2017
  8. ↑ JP airline-fleets international, Edition 2000/01
  9. ↑ Flight International, February 15, 2000 (in English), accessed March 4, 2017
  10. ↑ FVW: BWIA, Caribbean network is becoming closer, February 14, 2000 , accessed on March 4, 2017
  11. ↑ Flight International, March 27, 2001 (in English), accessed March 4, 2017
  12. ^ Saint Lucia Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court: Saint Lucia in the High Court of Justice, Suit No: 654 of 2001 , accessed March 3, 2017
  13. ↑ JP airline-fleets international, Edition 2003/04