Is DAE grounded?

Jerry,
This was in Wednesday's edition of Amigoe. No updates yet. Will let you know what we hear.

DAE grounded

Two of the three ATR-aircrafts of DAE on Hato’s apron.

WILLEMSTAD – Sometime after 09:00 this morning, the Department of Aviation stopped Airline Company Dutch Antilles Express (DAE) from taking off, because the maintenance permit has expired. According to DAE, they have submitted a petition to renew the permit, but due to a ‘misunderstanding’, the Aviation Department didn’t receive the petition.

“It is actually an administrative problem”, says director Floris van Pallandt when asked, and said that ‘the problem is more theirs’. The permit for the maintenance company is granted for a certain period of time and DAE’s expired on the first day of this new year. The early flight could still be performed, but after 09:00, all the aircrafts were grounded; one in Bonaire and the rest in Curacao. Only one of the Fokker-100’s is in Mexico for an overhaul.

Thank goodness that it was not so busy today, says Van Pallandt. This will change this weekend though; that’s when the business travelers and vacationers will start traveling again. When this paper went to press, Van Pallandt was under the assumption that the problem with the permit would be solved by mid afternoon and that with just a delay of a few hours, the fleet can be put in again for the regular flights.

You guys are making me very nervous, sure hope they have things up and running soon.

Any news on DAE? I will fly them in Feb from Arurba, so I hope they get up and running by then. Thanks for any news.

We fly from Aruba to Bonaire in February also. Could someone please update us and John too. TKX!

I leave in less than 2 weeks, can someone update DEA's problems