, called "B-wee" by locals, was the national airline of
Trinidad And Tobago . BWIA was, at the end of its operations, the largest airline operating out of the
Caribbean , operating direct services to the
USA ,
Canada , and the
UK . Its main base was
Piarco International Airport (POS),
Port Of Spain , with major hubs at
Grantley Adams International Airport (BGI) and
Cheddi Jagan International Airport (GEO) during 2006.
The company announced on
September 8 ,
2006 that the airline would be shut down on
December 31 2006 . All of the approximately 1700 employees were separated from the company but applied for new contracts with a new entity
Caribbean Airlines .
Trinidad Express: Bye Bye BWEE, Hello Caribbean Airlines
British West Indian Airways was established on
27 November 1940 by New Zealander
Lowell Yerex . Operations started with a
Lockheed Lodestar twin on daily services between
Trinidad and
Barbados . By
1942 , the airline had three aircraft of this type. In
1947 , BWIA was taken over by
British South American Airways (BSAA), but the name 'BWIA' was retained for operating routes among the Caribbean Islands using
Vickers Viking twin piston types.
In
1949 , BSAA merged with
British Overseas Airways Corporation and BWIA became a subsidiary of BOAC.
Vickers Viscount s were introduced in
1955 with
Bristol Britannia s leased in
1960 to fly the long-haul route to
London , via
New York City . One year later the government of Trinidad and Tobago acquired most of the shares in the airline, and achieved complete ownership by
1967 .
For BWIA the jet age began in 1967 with the introduction of
Boeing 727 s, which replaced the Viscount turboprops and on the New York route. The London route was re-started in
1975 using
Boeing 707 jets. BWIA became BWIA International in
1980 after a merger with Trinidad and Tobago Air Services (which had been formed by the government in June
1974 ), becoming the national airline. The same year also saw the Boeing 707s replaced on the London service with
Lockheed L-1011 Tristar 500s. In 1986, BWIA bought its first
McDonnell Douglas MD-83 .
By
1994 , the airline had become partially privatised. A substantial reorganisation of its route network left London and
Frankfurt the only
Europe an destinations. The airline ordered
Boeing 757 and
767 aircraft, then canceled the order in favor of
Airbus A321 and
Airbus A340 jets; in turn, this order was dropped after only two A321s were delivered. On
22 February 1995 , the government of Trinidad and Tobago completed the privatisation of BWIA by turning over majority control of the common stock and management of the airline to a private group of US and Caribbean investors.
In the early
2000s , BWIA had changed its livery to a new colorful Caribbean green/blue color with its famous
Steelpan trademark, the national musical instrument of its home base. The fleet had been upgraded to seven Boeing 737-800 Next Generation aircraft, two Airbus A340-300s, and two
Bombardier De Havilland Q300 Dash 8 s used by BWIA's sister airline
Tobago Express , which provides service to Trinidad's sister island Tobago.
By 2003, BWIA had become one of the leading Caribbean airlines, carrying over 1.4 million passengers a year with over 600 departures in the Caribbean and another 60 international departures every week. BWIA earned roughly US$276 million per year, employed 2,350 staff, had 70 daily flights, and carried 8,100
Tonne s (17,900,000 pounds) of air cargo per year. Its inflight magazine, ''
Caribbean Beat '', was well-regarded. However, BWIA had also been plagued by losses and had a history of continuous injections of funds from the government of
Trinidad And Tobago . The airline had filed for an IPO, although no date was set.
The airline was owned by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (75%) and private shareholders (25%) and had 2,588 employees (at January (45%) and
LIAT (23.6%).
BWIA's Pilots were represented by the ; the
Aviation, Communication And Allied Workers Union , which represented ground staff and flight attendants, and the
Communication, Transport And General Workers Union which organised middle management and engineers.
BWIA operated the following services (at October 2006):
- International scheduled destinations: Antigua , Barbados , Georgetown , Kingston , London Heathrow , Manchester , Miami , New York (JFK), Paramaribo , St Lucia , St. Maarten , Caracas and Toronto
Through a
Codeshare agreement with
United Airlines , it offered connecting service to
Boston ,
Denver ,
Chicago ,
Los Angeles ,
San Francisco and
Seattle . BWIA also had an alliance with another Caribbean airline,
LIAT , which together provided over 30 regional destinations.
The BWIA fleet consisted of the following aircraft (at August
2006 )
Flight International , 3-9 October 2006 :
An
Air Canada A340 with the operation number
9Y-TJN was on a long-term lease (with an option of outright ownership at the end). The 737-800's were also on long-term leases with provisions for eventual ownership.
