BWIA West Indies Airways Limited, known locally as "Bee-Wee" and also as British West Indian Airways and BWIA International, was the national airline based in

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. At the end of operations, BWIA was the largest airline operating out of the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, with direct service to the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Its main base was

Piarco International Airport Piarco International Airport is an international airport serving the island of Trinidad and is one of two international airports in Trinidad and Tobago. The airport is located east of Downtown Port of Spain, located in the adjacent town of Pia ...

(POS),

Piarco Piarco is a town in northern Trinidad and is the site of Piarco International Airport . Geography Piarco is the site of one of the few natural savannas in Trinidad and Tobago, the ''Piarco Savanna''. Most of this savanna land has been incorporate ...

, with major hubs at

Grantley Adams International Airport Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) is the international airport of Barbados, located in Seawell, Christ Church. It is the only designated port of entry for persons arriving and departing by air in Barbados and operates as one of t ...

(BGI) and

Cheddi Jagan International Airport Cheddi Jagan International Airport , formerly Timehri International Airport, is the primary airport of Guyana. The airport is located on the right bank of the Demerara River in the city of Timehri, south of Guyana's capital, Georgetown. It is ...

(GEO) during 2006. It was headquartered in the BWIA Administration Building in

Tunapuna–Piarco Tunapuna–Piarco is one of the 9 regions of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the most populous region in the country by total population and the fifth-largest by total land area. Geographically located in Northern Trinidad, Tunapuna–Piarco shares its ...

on the island of Trinidad. The company slogan was ''Sharing our warmth with the world.'' The company announced on 8 September 2006 that the airline would be shut down on 31 December 2006. All of the approximately 1700 employees were separated from the company but applied for new contracts with a new entity,

Caribbean Airlines Caribbean Airlines Limited is the state-owned airline and flag carrier of Trinidad and Tobago. The airline is also the flag carrier of Jamaica and Guyana. Headquartered in Iere House in Piarco, the airline operates flights to the Caribbean, No ...

History

Early history

British West Indian Airways was established on 27 November 1939 by New Zealander

Lowell Yerex Lowell Yerex (24 July 1895 – 1968) was born in New Zealand, and attended Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana United States. He graduated from Valparaiso University in 1916. He volunteered for the British Royal Flying Corps in 1917, wa ...

. Operations started on 27 November 1940 with a

Lockheed Lodestar The Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar is a passenger transport aircraft of the World War II era. Design and development Sales of the 10–14 passenger Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra, which first flew in 1937, had proved disappointing, despite the air ...

twin on daily services between

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

and

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

. By 1942, the airline had three aircraft of this type. In 1947, BWIA was taken over by

British South American Airways British South American Airways (BSAA) was a state-run airline of the United Kingdom in the mid-late 1940s responsible for services to the Caribbean and South America. Originally named British Latin American Air Lines it was renamed before serv ...

(BSAA), after a few months operating as British International Air Lines the 'BWIA' name was restored on 24 June 1948 for operating routes among the Caribbean Islands using

Vickers Viking The Vickers Viking was a British single-engine amphibious aircraft designed for military use shortly after World War I. Later versions of the aircraft were known as the Vickers Vulture and Vickers Vanellus. Design and development Researc ...

twin piston-engined airliners. Boeing 707-227 9Y-TDQ BWIA MIA 17

In 1949, BSAA merged with

British Overseas Airways Corporation British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the passi ...

and BWIA became a subsidiary of BOAC.

Vickers Viscount The Vickers Viscount is a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs. A design requirement from the Brabazon Committee, it entered service in 1953 and was the first turboprop-powered airliner. The Visc ...

s were introduced in 1955 with

Bristol Britannia The Bristol Type 175 Britannia is a retired British medium-to-long-range airliner built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1952 to fly across the Commonwealth. During development two prototypes were lost and the turboprop engines proved sus ...

s leased in 1960 to fly the long-haul route to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, via

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 ...

. In 1960 BWIA had its head office in

Port of Spain Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...

, Trinidad. On 1 November 1961, the government of Trinidad and Tobago acquired 90% of the shares in the airline and achieved complete ownership by 1967. For BWIA the jet age began in 1964 with the introduction of new

Boeing 727-100 The Boeing 727 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy Boeing 707, 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter f ...

jetliners billed as the Sunjet, which replaced the Viscount turboprops on the New York route. According to its timetable, in 1968 the airline was operating nonstop Boeing 727 flights from New York to

Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...

with continuing no change of plane 727 service to

St. Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerin ...

and

as well as nonstop 727 flights from Miami to

Grand Cayman Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the territory's capital, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles (121 km) southwest of Little Cayman and 90 miles ( ...

and

Montego Bay Montego Bay is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Por ...

with continuing no change of plane 727 service to Kingston,

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

, Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados and Port of Spain, and was also serving

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

and

Tobago Tobago () is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trini ...

with the 727. In early 1971 four second-hand

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...

series 200 airliners were purchased from

Braniff International Airways Braniff Airways, Inc., operated as Braniff International Airways from 1948 until 1965, and then Braniff International from 1965 until air operations ceased, was an airline in the United States that once flew air carrier operations from 1928 un ...

and operated on US and intra-Caribbean services until their disposal in late 1975.

Later history

The London route was restarted in 1975 using

jets. In 1976 Peter Look Hong replaced

Sven-Erik Svanberg Sven-Erik Svanberg (7 March 1914 – 16 September 2004) was a Sweden, Swedish airline chief executive. Early life Svanberg was born in Karlstad, Sweden, the son of managing director Bert Svanberg and his wife Linnea (née Östberg). He passed ''s ...

as CEO of BWIA. BWIA became BWIA International Airways in 1980 after a merger with

Trinidad and Tobago Air Services Trinidad and Tobago Air Services also known as the TTAS, was an Air Bridge service for Trinidad and Tobago. It was based at Piarco International Airport, Trinidad and Tobago. History In 1974, TTAS was founded and owned by the Government of Trini ...

(which had been formed by the government in June 1974), becoming the national airline. BWIA aircraft livery had the 'Trinidad and Tobago Airways' adjacent to the 'BWIA International' after the merger. The same year also saw the Boeing 707s replaced on the London service with long-range

Lockheed L-1011-500 The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, also known as the L-1011 (pronounced "El-ten-eleven") and TriStar, is an American medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation. It was the third wide-body airliner to enter comme ...

TriStar wide-body jetliners. In 1986, BWIA bought its first

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gener ...

. The airline also operated stretched

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-50 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. Aft ...

jetliners as well as a

Boeing 747-100 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, to ...

jumbo jet at one point. BWIA Boeing 747-100 Maiwald

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51, BWIA International - Trinidad and Tobago Airways AN0263101

By 1994, the airline had become partially privatised. A substantial reorganisation of its route network left London and

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

the only

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an destinations. The airline ordered

Boeing 757 The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978. The prototype completed its mai ...

and 767 aircraft, then canceled the order in favor of

Airbus A321 The Airbus A321 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short to medium range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin engine jet airliners; it carries 185 to 236 passengers. It has a stretched fuselage which was the first derivative of the ba ...

and

Airbus A340 The Airbus A340 is a long-range, wide-body passenger airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 quadjet in parallel with ...

jets; in turn, this order was dropped after only two A321s were delivered. On 22 February 1995, the government of Trinidad and Tobago completed the privatisation of BWIA by turning over majority control of the common stock and management of the airline to a private group of US and Caribbean investors. In the early 2000s (decade), BWIA changed its livery to a new Caribbean green and blue color scheme with its famous

steelpan The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists. Descriptio ...

trademark, the national musical instrument of its home base. The fleet had been upgraded to seven

Boeing 737-800 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a narrow-body aircraft powered by two jet engines and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third generation derivative of the Boein ...

Next Generation aircraft, two

Airbus A340-300 The Airbus A340 is a long-haul, long-range, wide-body passenger airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the Airbus A300, A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 qu ...

s, and two Bombardier de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Q300 Dash 8 twin turboprop regional aircraft flown by BWIA's sister airline

Tobago Express Tobago Express was a scheduled passenger airline based in Trinidad and Tobago. It operated as a sister airline of BWIA West Indies Airways and operated between the Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson International Airport (formerly Crown Point Airp ...

, which provided service on the short hop between Port of Spain and Trinidad's sister island Tobago as well as other destinations in the region. By 2003, BWIA had become one of the leading Caribbean airlines, carrying over 1.4 million passengers a year with over 600 departures in the Caribbean and another 60 international departures every week. BWIA earned roughly US$276 million per year, employed 2,350 staff, had 70 daily flights, and carried 8,100

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

s (17,900,000 pounds) of air cargo per year. Its inflight magazine, ''

Caribbean Beat ''Caribbean Beat'', founded in 1992, is a bimonthly magazine, published in Port of Spain, Trinidad, covering the arts, culture and society of the Caribbean, with a focus on the region's English-speaking territories. It is distributed in-flight by C ...

'', was well regarded. However, BWIA had also been plagued by losses and had a history of continuous injections of funds from the government of

. The airline had filed for an IPO, although no date was set. The airline was owned by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (75%) and private shareholders (25%) and had 2,588 employees (in January 2005). It also had holdings in other airlines:

(45%) and

LIAT LIAT (1974) Ltd, also known as Leeward Islands Air Transport Services and operating as LIAT, is a regional airline headquartered in Antigua and Barbuda that operated high-frequency inter-island scheduled services to 15 destinations in the Caribb ...

(23.6%). On September 8, 2006, BWIA West Indies Airways announced its demise, after failed negotiations with the ACAWU, CATTU, Superintendent's Association and BWIA's management. CEO Peter Davies, who joined BWIA in March 2006, said that a new airline,

, based in Trinidad and Tobago, would replace BWIA after 66 years of flying the Caribbean skies. Caribbean Airlines remains in current operation. BWIA's Pilots were represented by the

Trinidad and Tobago Airline Pilots Association The Trinidad and Tobago Airline Pilots Association is a trade union in Trinidad and Tobago with members in the former BWIA and Tobago Express, now Caribbean Airlines. The Trinidad and Tobago Airline Pilots Association (TTALPA) is the registered, R ...

(TTALPA), which is affiliated to

IFALPA The International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations (IFALPA) is an international not-for-profit organization of national pilots' associations. IFALPA was founded in April 1948 and is based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. History After t ...

. TTALPA is also part of the regional

Caribbean Airline Pilots Association The Caribbean Airline Pilots Association is a trade union federation that represents airline pilots organisations in the Caribbean region. Founded in 1997, with the support and assistance of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Assoc ...

(C-ALPA). The other recognised Unions at BWIA were: Airline Superintendents Association; the Aviation, Communication and Allied Workers Union, which represented ground staff and flight attendants, and the

Communication, Transport and General Workers Union The Communication, Transport and General Workers Union is a trade union in Trinidad and Tobago with most of its members in the former airline of BWIA. See also * List of trade unions This is a list of trade unions and union federations by ...

which organised middle management and engineers.

Destinations

BWIA served the following destinations during its existence although not all of these destinations were served at the same time: ;North America *

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, ON –

Toronto Pearson International Airport Lester B. Pearson International Airport , commonly known as Toronto Pearson International Airport, is an international airport located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is the main airport serving Toronto, its metropolitan area, and the surro ...

(YYZ) *

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Baltimore, MD Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Baltimore/Washington International Airport Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport , commonly referred to as BWI or BWI Marshall, is an international airport in the Eastern United States serving mainly Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C. With Dulles Internatio ...

(BWI) **

Miami, FL Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the ...

Miami International Airport Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the greater Miami metropolitan area with over 1,000 daily flights to 167 domestic and international destinations, including most co ...

(MIA) **

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, NY –

John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Ne ...

(JFK) ;Europe *

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

–

Frankfurt Airport Frankfurt Airport (; german: link=no, Flughafen Frankfurt Main , also known as ''Rhein-Main-Flughafen'') is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centres ...

(FRA) *

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

–

Arlanda Airport Stockholm Arlanda Airport is an international airport located in the Sigtuna Municipality of Sweden, near the town of Märsta, north of Stockholm and nearly south-east of Uppsala. The airport is located within Stockholm County and the p ...

(ARN) *

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

** Zurich -

Zurich Airport Zürich Airport (), french: Aéroport de Zurich, it, Aeroporto di Zurigo, rm, Eroport da Turitg is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the airline hub, principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zürich, Switze ...

(ZRH) *

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

–

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

(LHR) **

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

–

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those n ...

(MAN) ;Caribbean *

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda (, ) is a sovereign country in the West Indies. It lies at the juncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17°N latitude. The country consists of two maj ...

** St. John's,

–

V. C. Bird International Airport V. C. Bird International Airport is an international airport located on the island of Antigua, northeast of St. John's, the capital of Antigua and Barbuda. History The airport originally was operated by the United States Army Air Forc ...

(ANU) *

–

(BGI) - Hub *

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

Belize City Belize City is the largest city in Belize and was once the capital of the former British Honduras. According to the 2010 census, Belize City has a population of 57,169 people in 16,162 households. It is at the mouth of the Haulover Creek, wh ...

Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport is an airport that serves the nation of Belize's largest city, Belize City along the eastern coast of Central America. It was named after politician Philip Goldson, Philip S. W. Goldson, who died in ...

(BZE) *

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

** Kingston –

Norman Manley International Airport Norman Manley International Airport , formerly Palisadoes Airport, is an international airport serving Kingston, Jamaica and is located south of the island away from the centre of New Kingston. It is the second busiest airport in the country ...

(KIN) **

Sangster International Airport Sangster International Airport is an international airport located east of Montego Bay, Jamaica. The airport is capable of handling nine million passengers per year. It serves as the most popular airport for tourists visiting the north coast ...

(MBJ) *

Owen Roberts International Airport Owen Roberts International Airport is an airport serving Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. It is the main international airport for the Cayman Islands as well as the main base for Cayman Airways. The airport is named after British Royal Air Forc ...

(GCM) *

Netherlands Antilles nl, In vrijheid verenigd"Unified by freedom" , national_anthem = , common_languages = Dutch English Papiamento , demonym = Netherlands Antillean , capital = Willemstad , year_start = 1954 , year_end = 2010 , date_start = 15 December , ...

Aruba Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...

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 ...

(AUA) ** St. Maarten –

Princess Juliana International Airport Princess Juliana International Airport is the main airport on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin. The airport is located on the Dutch side of the island, in the country of Sint Maarten, close to the shore of Simpson Bay Lagoon. In 2015, the ...

(SXM) *

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

** Carolina (

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...

) (

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto Internacional Luis Muñoz Marín) is a joint civil-military international airport located in suburban Carolina, Puerto Rico, southeast of San Juan. It is named for Luis Muño ...

) (SJU) *

St. Kitts Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...

Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport Robert L. Bradshaw Airport , formerly known as ''Golden Rock Airport'', is an international airport located just northeast of Basseterre, on the island of Saint Kitts, serving the nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. It was named after the first Pr ...

(SKB) *

Hewanorra International Airport Hewanorra International Airport , located near Vieux Fort Quarter, Saint Lucia, in the Caribbean, is the larger of Saint Lucia's two airports and is managed by the Saint Lucia Air and Seaports Authority (SLASPA). It is on the southern cape of t ...

(UVF) **

Vigie Airport George F. L. Charles Airport (commonly known as Vigie Airport) is the smaller of the two airports in Saint Lucia, the other being Hewanorra International Airport. It is located north of Castries, the capital city. George F. L. Charles Airport is ...

(now George F.L. Charles Airport) (SLU) *Trinidad and Tobago **

–

(POS) - Main Hub **

–

Crown Point International Airport A. N. R. Robinson International Airport (formerly ''Crown Point International Airport'') is an international airport located on Crown Point, Tobago in Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southwesternmost part of the island, near the to ...

(TAB) ;South America *

** Georgetown –

(GEO) - Hub *

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...

–

Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport , also known as Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport, and locally referred to simply as JAP, is an airport located in the town of Zanderij and hub for airline carrier Surinam Airways, south of Param ...

(PBM) *

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

– Simón Bolívar International Airport (CCS) Through a

codeshare A codeshare agreement, also known simply as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number (the "airli ...

agreement with

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

, it offered connecting service to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Chicago–O'Hare,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and Seattle/Tacoma. BWIA also had an alliance with another Caribbean airline,

, with both carriers providing combined service to over 30 regional destinations.

Fleet

Boeing 727-78, BWIA West Indies Airways JP6853185

Lockheed L-1011-385-3 TriStar 500, BWIA International AN0846879

The BWIA fleet consisted of the following aircraft in August 2006: In addition, BWIA's regional airline affiliate, Tobago Express, operated

de Havilland Canada DHC-8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then ...

Q300 Dash 8 turboprop aircraft.

Former fleet

The following aircraft types have been operated by BWIA:

Awards

*1995, 1996, 1997 - The "Caribbean's Leading Airline" - by the

World Travel Awards In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

Bibliography

References

External links

BWIA West Indies Airways
(Archive)
BWIA's Caribbean
(Archive)
BWIA Jet Fleet Detail
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bwia West Indies Airways Defunct airlines of Trinidad and Tobago Caribbean Airlines Airlines established in 1939 Airlines disestablished in 2006 Defunct companies of Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago in World War II 1939 establishments in Trinidad and Tobago 2006 disestablishments in Trinidad and Tobago 1939 establishments in the British Empire 2006 disestablishments in the United Kingdom