With all the headaches surrounding ALM lately, especially between Curacao & Bonaire, there appears to be an alternative available. The company is Divi Divi Air (under the name Bai Bini Airtours), an air charter company which is presently running 8 daily roundtrips between Curacao and Bonaire during daylight hours only (no night time flights). Here's the tidbit from The Daily Herald (today's edition at http://www.TheDailyHerald.com): ------------ BONAIRE—A new charter airline has started flying passengers between Curaçao and Bonaire. Divi Divi Air was scheduled to execute its first flight Monday morning, at 6:40am. It will make eight trips per day, the last one leaving Bonaire at 5:45pm. Spokesperson Karla Siercke said a return trip will cost far less than 200 guilders. As an introduction, Divi Divi is now offering a day trip for 138 guilders. The Cessna 402 two-engine turbo prop aircraft can carry seven passengers and can also be leased. German director Hans-Peter Barth is an experienced pilot and airline manager. If there is enough interest the company will consider buying a second plane. -------------- I can't comment on quality, since I've not used the service yet, but I did speak to Karla (she's German, incidentally) just now, and she indicated that one way passage is NAF 69, and roundtrip is NAF 138. There's a ticket counter for the airline in Curacao (and they apparently will take credit cards there), but on Bonaire the pilot provides the tickets, and cash is required (there is an ATM at the airport, as Karla pointed out). The plane has a 7 person capacity, and is somewhat baggage limited, but anyone wishing to bring extra baggage need only call. Their phone number from Curacao is 888-1050 or 563-1913 (cell phone). Prefix with a 09 if calling from Bonaire. So, should you be stuck in Curacao or Bonaire thanks to ALM, try them out and let the rest of us how good a service this is! Jake |