May, 9, 2007: Anguilla's Minister of Tourism Victor F. Banks led a delegation to St. Maarten on Friday, May 4^th, 2007, to hold preliminary talks with representatives of Windward Islands Airways (WinAir).

On April 24th we reported that WINAIR had announced that as of May 15th 2007, it planned to stop all scheduled flights between Anguilla and St. Maarten.

Anguilla delegation led by Mr. Banks (left)

Mr Banks and delegation are working to secure the continuity of the air service between the two islands on a scheduled basis and is expected to hold final discussions with the airline this week.

The Minister expressed Government’s appreciation for WinAir’s service and support to Anguilla’s Tourism Industry over its 40 years of operations.  He went on to say that the figures for tourists traveling between the two islands indicate that there is significant growth and the discontinuation of a regular air service will have far reaching consequences for reaching Anguila as a final destination and the linkages with other Caribbean destinations.