Aruba Airlines (legally ''Arubaanse Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'') is the
flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations.
Hist ...
and the sole airline of Aruba. The airline, founded in 2006, providing scheduled and charter air transport for passengers to 13 destinations. Aruba Airlines's corporate headquarters is in
Oranjestad, Aruba
Oranjestad ( , , ; literally "Orange City") is the capital and largest city of Aruba, a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is located on the southern coast near the western end of the island country. In the local language ...
. Aruba operates its primary maintenance base at Miami. They received an AOC from the United States in 2015.
History
Aruba Airlines was established by Mr. Onno J. de Swart in 2006. The airline began charter operations with a seven-seat
Piper PA-31 Navajo
The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of cabin-class, twin-engined aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for the general aviation market, most using Lycoming engines. It was also license-built in a number of Latin American countries. Tar ...
in 2010.
The main headquarters is in the city of Oranjestad in Aruba, which is the main operation centre, and the airline opened a new office at
Queen Beatrix International Airport
Queen Beatrix International Airport ( nl, Internationale luchthaven Koningin Beatrix; pap, Aeropuerto Internacional Reina Beatrix), colloquially known as Aruba Airport , is an international airport located in Oranjestad, Aruba. It has flight s ...
. It also has smaller offices in
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
,
Curaçao
Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...
,
Bonaire
Bonaire (; , ; pap, Boneiru, , almost pronounced ) is a Dutch island in the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west ( leeward) coast of the island. Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao form the ABC i ...
and in
Maracaibo
)
, motto = "''Muy noble y leal''"(English: "Very noble and loyal")
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,
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
and
Maracay
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption =Top:Maracay Municipal Garden and Las Delicias area, Second: Sindoni Tower, Los Tamarindo residential area and overview to Maracay, Third:Maestranza Cesar Giron Bullring Stadium, Girardot Square and Maraca ...
.
In early 2012 the company attracted new investors, leading to the upgrade of operations to jet aircraft.
The company received an economic
air operator's certificate
An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets, and system in pla ...
in August 2012. The airline then arranged to lease two
Airbus A320
The Airbus A320 family is a series of Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus.
The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air F ...
twin-engined 150-seat jet airliners; the first one arrived in Aruba in November 2012.
[Aruba Airlines welcomes their first Airbus 320](_blank)
The aircraft started to fly charter flights from Aruba at the end of 2012 and scheduled operations started on March 31, 2013, with
Maracaibo, Venezuela
)
, motto = "''Muy noble y leal''"(English: "Very noble and loyal")
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as its initial destination. Flights to
Panama City, Panama
Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...
began on July 5 of that year.
Aruba Airlines had also started flying between Aruba to Curaçao and Santo Domingo in December 2015, operating with the Airbus A320. In May 2016, it was announced that the Curaçao-Santo Domingo flight as well as Panama would be temporarily suspended and that operations would resume soon when able, although no reason was given for this. In July 2016, the airline celebrated the signing of their fourth aircraft, with its first Airbus A319. The aircraft was delivered to Aruba Airlines in December 2016.
Aruba Airlines announced on October 2, 2017, that it will be re-introducing service to Curaçao and introducing new service to Bonaire. The flights would be operated with a Dash 8-300 that was signed for in September 2017 and that service to Curaçao would begin on October 23, 2017, with Bonaire's date to be announced. Unfortunately the first flight was cancelled due to the Dash 8 aircraft not being delivered on time and the airline officially commenced service to Curaçao on October 25, 2017, utilizing a
Bombardier CRJ200
The Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 (previously Canadair CRJ100 and CRJ200) is a regional jet designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace between 1991 and 2006, the first of the Bombardier CRJ family.
The ''Canadair Regional Jet'' (CRJ) ...
, leased from Voyageur Airways, that was previously used to fly between Curaçao and Sint Maarten after the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.
A press conference held live in Curaçao on October 27, 2017, Francisco Arendsz, the airlines' accountable manager stated that the airline had planned to order an additional Dash 8-100, along with the original aircraft that was expected to be delivered as back up. This would be when they revealed the original aircraft was not ready. The current plan is temporarily using the leased CRJ200. The second CRJ200 will be delivered, wearing the company's official livery. Bonaire is planned to commence on 16 November 2017, if Aruba Airlines is permitted by Dutch Civil Aviation Authority. Additional destinations planned for November include, Barquisimeto and Punto Fijo. The press conference also reflected on the future of the airline, including destinations planned for 2018, which include
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, and
Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...
. Flights to Argentina and New York are planned to be flown by an
Airbus A330
The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus.
Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A340 ...
that had supposedly been ordered recently. On 14 November 2017, the inaugural flight to Curaçao, the CEO stated that next year there would be additional 4 aircraft excluding the already ordered CRJ200 for next year.
Due to sanction made by the Venezuelan government in the first half of 2018, the fleet renewal will be announced near the end of the year.
Destinations
As of December 2021, Aruba Airlines flies to the following destinations:
Fleet
Current fleet
As of October 2022, the Aruba Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:
Former fleet
See also
*
List of airlines of Aruba
References
External links
{{commons category-inline, Aruba Airlines
Official website
Airlines of Aruba
Airlines established in 2006
2006 establishments in Aruba