Ashneil Sakhrani and Phillip Artisen
WINAIR, the St. Maarten-based passenger airline, known for its long and reliable service to many parts of the region, returned to Anguilla, on Sunday, December 15, to provide two scheduled daily flights to the island. Interestingly, the 12.20 pm flight of the de Havilland Twin Otto aircraft touched down at the Clayton Lloyd International Airport with an Anguillian pilot as Captain.
“I was born and raised in Anguilla. My name is Dino Arrundell from West End, Anguilla, and my grandfather was James Hughes (Change of Gear). It is a pleasure to be here,” Captain Arrundell told The Anguillian. He was accompanied by St Maarten airmen Ashneil Sakhrani, Co-pilot and First Officer; and Phillip Artisen, another First Officer who “came along for the ride” on his first visit to Anguilla.
“It is some years now that we have not served Anguilla. We are pleased to be back and hope to serve this island for a long time to come,” Captain Arrundell said. Asked how he saw the importance of WINAIR’s new service to the island, he replied: “I think it will boost relations between Anguilla and St Maarten, and will provide more airlift in the Caribbean on the St Maarten/Anguilla and now San Juan route. There is a great void right now of airlift down to San Juan. The new flights will provide more seats for persons travelling to San Juan for shopping or medical services. The aircraft seats 19 passengers but we normally go to 17.”
The ground-handling for WINAIR, at the Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport, is being provided by Lloyd’s Aviation Services. “We are pleased to be the ground-handlers for WINAIR and look forward to a fruitful relationship now and in the future,” said Dwight Carty, one of Lloyd’s Aviation Services’ senior employees.
The additional new service from St Marten to San Juan, Puerto Rico, of which Captain Arrundell spoke, will begin on February 15, using the ATR-42 WINAIR aircraft.
A recent release by the Anguilla Government stated that the WINAIR service to the island had come about after months of discussions between the airline, the Anguilla Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, (Haydn Hughes) and the Anguilla Tourist Board.
The current scheduled flights are as follows: The first flight departs St Marten at 12:10 pm, arrives in Anguilla at 12:20. The flight departs Anguilla at 12:30, arrives in St Maarten at 12:40. The second flight departs St Maarten at 4:00 pm, arrives in Anguilla at 4:10; departs Anguilla at 4:20 and arrives in St Maarten at 4:30.
