July 1 to July 8, 2005 Volume 12, Issue 25
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July 1 to July 8, 2005 Volume 12, Issue 25 Kaya Gob. Debrot 200 • E-mail: [email protected] • 717-8988 SINCE 1994 INSIDE: Table of Contents pg. 2 Bonaire Reporter Survey Holloway Disappearance & Antilles Law Bonaire Barracuda News I am the William Express Youth Tennis Tourney 2nd Turtle Tracked is named “Happy” X Our source at the Caribbean Hotel 75 percent doesn’t have a positive effect Association tells us that Air Jamaica on the profitability of that route,” van WILL continue it’s Saturday Bonaire Palland told The St Maarten Daily Her- flight and NOT stop it at the end of ald. next month as planned. This is already reflected on its website. It is part of a re- evaluation of its cutbacks and also might Continued on page 3 include resumption of some flights to the Continental Airlines to IN THIS ISSUE Eastern Caribbean and Miami. Air Ja- Grouper Corner 3 fly non-stop maica lost US$61 million for the first Letters (Pit Bull, Leaky Pipes, Houston-Bonaire five months of this year, as the govern- Beauty in Sushi) 5 ment, struggles to move it into viability. Finding a Balance for Bonaire Last week Air Jamaica's executive Responses 6 t’s finally happened: a US airline chairman, Dr. Vin Lawrence, said un- Bonaire Reporter Survey 7 I flying jets directly to Bonaire from A Boeing 737 This type of aircraft foreseen disruption of services, caused Holloway Disappearance the USA. Continental Airlines will start will be used on the Bonaire route primarily by an increase in the frequency & Aruba Law 8 flying non-stop of major airframe maintenance from 18 Bonaire-New Port Connection 9 Houston-Bonaire months to 15 months, and route restruc- Bon. Barracuda Swim News 9 SGB Students Excel at Artebon 10 on Friday, Decem- turing, had added another US$25 million ber 16, this year. If Bonaire to Culinary Olympics 12 in expenses. Air Jamaica cut Bonaire I Am the William Express 12 you check the Con- service to one flight at the end of June. tinental website you Ambassadors (Fulton—Buddy Dive) 15 Goal, Home Run and More 15 will see the sched- X Dutch Antilles Express (DAE), DCNA at St. Eustatius 17 ule and fare of ( BonairExpress and CuraçaoExpress) Youth Tennis Tourney 18 $491.65 has already won’t use Suriname Airways jets for 2nd Turtle Tracked is “Happy” 22 been posted. Reser- flights on the Bonaire-Curaçao-St. Piedra So Golf Course 22 vations are being Maarten route, said DAE’s Chief Ex- WEEKLY FEATURES: accepted on-line ecutive Officer Floris van Palland Fri- Flotsam & Jetsam 2 and via travel day. Explained Van Palland, "The load Vessel List & Tide Table 9 agents. If you have factors on the route don’t justify putting AMFO/NGO Platform: money to spare, fly in a larger aircraft such as the MD-82." Community Issues in Care & Welfare 11 First Class the fare St. Maarten flights have a load factor Picture Yourself (South Africa) 14 Where to Find The Reporter 13 is $2,456.65. of 75 per cent (using the smaller turbo- Classifieds 14 It’s been a long props) on the average. The MD-82 has time in the coming, Brian A. Znotins, Manager, International Route Planning for Reporter Masthead 18 140 seats, while the ATR-42 that DAE but when everyone Continental Airlines signs up to fly weekly to Bonaire begin- Pet of the Week (Rafaello) 19 ning in December. Commissioner Burney el Hage, Senator uses has 46 seats. DAE flies Curaçao-St. sat down at the What’s Happening 19 Ramonsito Booi to his left, TCB head Ronella Croes to right. Maarten-Curaçao twice a day, filling table in Houston to Dodo (Kingdom of Heaven) 19 slightly fewer than 100 seats. By using Shopping & Dining Guides 20 talk, it took less the MD-82, the seat capacity would in- On the Island Since... than a month – nearly the speed of light in airline deals – to wrap things up. stantly increase by 40 per cent. “An in- (Hernan Longat) 21 The flights from Houston’s new Bush Airport will leave Fridays at 11:15 pm and crease of 40 per cent on a load factor of Bonaire Sky Park (planets) 23 arrive in Bonaire the following morning, Saturday, at 6:15 am. The “red-eye” sched- The Stars Have It (Continued on page 23 3) uling enables travelers to get in an extra half day of diving or whatever! The return flight leaves at 8 am on Saturday, arriving at Houston at 10:50 am. These arrival and departure times allow passengers to connect easily with other flights. They’ll be using a Boeing 737 with 112 economy and 12 first class seats. Continental is the world’s sixth largest airline, with 41,000 employees, and already serves 25 destina- tions in the Caribbean. It has hubs in New York, Houston, Cleveland and Guam. At the press conference last Thursday were officials and representatives from TCB New York and Holland, TCB Bonaire, Bonaire International Airport Board, Bonaire Holding, the Island Council-including the Opposition- and the press. Following the cancellation of Air Jamaica service, Bonaire officials began to ex- plore getting more airlift from the USA. A month ago to the day of the announce- ment Ramonsito Booi, Burney el Hage and Larry Gerharts traveled to Houston to explore the possibility of Continental flights to Bonaire. It was rumored that KLM put in a good word for Bonaire to help the negotiations. As Continental’s Manager of International Route Planning, Brian Znotins, told The Bonaire Reporter, “It was a business decision. We already fly to another top dive spot, Roatan, so why not to the Caribbean’s number one dive destination, Bonaire.” Bonaire will not stop its negotiations with Delta Airlines. “Considering the current interest for Bonaire-flights, I continue to hope that Continental will expand their flights to Bonaire in 2006. We still have to be on the safe side and continue to ex- tend our horizons,” said Larry Gerharts of Bonaire Air Services. G./L.D. Bonaire Reporter - July 1 to July 8, 2005 Page 2 Flotsam and Jetsam (Continued from page 2) country’s gross domestic product of Following public demonstrations of NAƒ3.7 billion. outrage because of unavailable flights, Bonaire's share of the national debt is Minister of Transport and Communica- NAƒ243.8 million - it has no ability to tion, Omayra Leeflang, had announced borrow money on its own as do Cura- a few weeks ago that Suriname Airways çao and St. Maarten.. would fly the Curaçao-St. Maarten If the islands were to split up under route as of Friday, June 24, but it didn’t the current circumstances they would happen. start their new status with those debts. Since that would be an unworkable sce- X DAE’s Chief Executive Officer nario for most islands, Floris van Palland a former CEO of On the total Antillean debt of NAƒ4.8 several of Royal Dutch Airline KLM’s billion, NAƒ273 million was paid in spin-offs, when asked about the ‘… interest alone last year, 23 cents out of Express Airlines’ on-time perform- every guilder collected in taxes and 16 ance, one of the major complaints of per cent of all government expendi- passengers, said improving this was tures. Another NAƒ378 million guilders “a number one priority.” “We have was borrowed in 2004. already done a lot, although people The Central Bank itself made a profit wouldn’t have noticed it right away. It of NAƒ 50 million in 2004, which goes is a process,” he said, explaining that to the Central Government. A consider- several ATRs had been swapped for able part of that comes from the 1 per new ones from Europe that have just cent license fee people pay when con- completed their big check-up. In addi- ducting financial transactions in US tion, the company has been increasing dollars. its spare parts reserve. “The chance that you don’t have that specific part is much smaller,” he said, adding that the program is almost completed. DAE’s major shareholder is Bonaire resident, Niek Sandmann, (reports by Suzanne Koelega– SMH) X Princess Maxima, the wife of Dutch Crown Prince Wil- lem- Hello tourist preparation Alexander, gave birth X As is customary this time of year, Sunday to a healthy baby daughter. 6th grade students from the island’s The new princess was named Alexia elementary schools will take part in Juliana Marcela Laurentien, and be- the “Hello Tourist” program. Hello comes third in line to the Dutch throne Tourist is a TCB initiative to acquaint after her father and her sister, Princess Bonaire’s chlidren with the tourist Catharina-Amalia, who was born on business that powers the local economy. Dec. 7, 2003. The newborn, weighed The children will learn what being a 3.4 kilograms (7.69 pounds). tourist means by visiting typical The prince denied she was named af- attractions, shops and the various ter the illegitimate French daughter of resorts his grandfather, the late Queen Juliana’s Participating in the program are deceased husband, Prince Bernhard. Flamingo Airport, Taxis, Goddard Prince Bernhard’s offspring’s existence Catering, Captain Don’s Habitat, Plaza was only recognized in an interview Resort, Sand Dollar, Divi Flamingo published last year. “She is named after Beach Resort, Bel Mar and the SGB. me,” said Prince Willem-Alexander. Sponsors of the event are Maduro & Curiels Bank, TELBO N.V., Consales X Central Bank President Emsley Cash & Carry and Panaderia Seruva. Tromp reported that the Antilles na- tional debt is NAƒ2.4 billion.