Private company

Winair

Logo: Ltmoon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons³

Airline based in Sint Maarten

Winair (short for Windward Islands Airways International NV) is a government-owned Dutch regional airline based in Sint Maarten. Founded in 1961 by Georges Greaux and Hippolyte Ledee, It has a fleet of nine aircraft serving destinations mostly within the Leeward Islands group of the Lesser Antilles in the North East Caribbean. It has its headquarters on the grounds of Princess Juliana International Airport.² Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1961Founded¹

HeadquartersSint Maarten¹
Founded inSint Maarten¹
Websitewww.fly-winair.sx
Legal formjoint-stock company¹

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WinairTO — Photo: Ijsbeer12345, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons⁵

The story

Windward Islands Airways was founded in 1961 by Georges Greaux with additional investments from Hipployte Ledee, Chester Wathey, Louis Richardson, and a handful of others. The airline required short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft to serve certain airports, such as Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport on Saba, which has the shortest commercial runway in the world. The 1 December 1963, Windward Islands Airways timetable lists flights between St. Maarten and Saba operated with STOL-capable Dornier Do 28 aircraft. Winair began flying de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters in January 1967.

From Wikipedia’s article on Winair, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.⁴

Products and brands

Destinations

Winair operates services to the following scheduled destinations:

Codeshare agreements

Winair has interline and codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

Fleet

Current fleet

As of August 2025, Winair operates the following aircraft:

Historic fleet

According to the 1 December 1963 Windward Islands Airways timetable the airline was operating STOL-capable Dornier Do-28 as well as Piper Apache aircraft. Additionally, Winair has previously operated Britten-Norman BN-2 Islanders, Fokker F-27s, Beech Twin Bonanzas, and NAMC-YS 11s.