Bonaire Express

The airline was established in 2003 and started operations on 18 August 2003.

The airline was established as a shuttle service by Air Exel Netherlands, a KLM regional partner. It was formerly known as BonairExel and was wholly owned by Bonair Bellegings Participatie Maatschappij. BonairExel formed part of the ExelAviation Group as the initial feeder between the islands of the Netherlands Antilles. In 2005, Bonair Express merged with Curaçao Express and formed Dutch Antilles Express.

Initially, regarding aircraft, those flying under the BonairExel brand were used interisland between Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. The one under CuraçaoExel was used on the Bonaire-Curaçao-Sint Maarten route and the one under ArubaExel was planned to be used on the Aruba-Venezuela routes connecting to and from Bonaire/Curaçao but never commenced due to the dismantling of the ExelAviation Group. The Embraer 145 was planned to be used to fly to the United States but was considered too small in size and baggage space.

Destinations

Bonair Express operated the following services (by January 2005):

Fleet

The Bonaire Express fleet consisted of the following aircraft (at January 2005):

Accidents and incidents

In September 2004, an ATR 42-320 (registered PJ-XLM) had to make an emergency landing due to a small fire that started in the number 2 engine. The plane was flying from Bonaire to Curaçao when the passengers sitting on the left side of the aircraft noticed that smoke was coming out of the engine. The aircraft landed safely at Curaçao International Airport and no one was hurt. A few weeks later, the aircraft was restored and continued flying with DAE until its bankruptcy.