KLM West-Indisch Bedrijf

Its foundation was made possible partly by the insurance of the Dutch PTT, who offered a lucrative contract for delivering mail to the Dutch Colonies. The first mail flight arriving from the Netherlands to Curaçao by the Fokker F.XVIII PH-AIS "Snip" on 22 December 1934, marked the beginning of the company.

Initially, the West-Indisch Bedrijf mainly flew from Willemstad, Curaçao to Aruba (with the first flight occurring on 19 January 1935), Venezuela and Jamaica in cooperation with Koninklijke Nederlandse Stoomboot-Maatschappij (KNSM). Only after World War II regular flights Amsterdam-Curaçao occurred. World War II itself was of major importance to WIB. Because of the oil refineries in Aruba, WIB became a major transporter and one of the best-run airlines of its day.

On 1 August 1964, the West-Indisch Bedrijf was transformed into ALM Antillean Airlines, in which the Netherlands Antilles became a shareholder.

KLM West-Indisch Bedrijf operated the following aircraft:

Accidents and incidents

On 22 August 1942, Lockheed 14-WF62 Super Electra PJ-AIP Parkiet lost control just after takeoff and crashed near Piarco Airport for reasons unknown, killing all 13 on board. The cause of the crash was not determined, but poor weather conditions (storms and turbulence) were blamed.