Aruba Airlines (legally ') is the

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that government for international operations. Histo ...

and the sole airline of

Aruba Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...

. The airline was founded in 2006, providing scheduled and charter air transport for passengers to 13 destinations. Aruba Airlines's corporate headquarters is in

Oranjestad, Aruba Oranjestad ( , , ; literally "Prince of Orange, Orange City"), the Capital city, capital and most populous of Aruba's eight regions, is located on the southwestern coast of the island. In Papiamento, the local language, Oranjestad is commonly r ...

. The airline operates its primary maintenance base in Miami. They received an AOC from the United States in 2015.

History

Aruba Airlines was established by Onno J. de Swart in 2006. It began charter operations with a seven-seat

Piper PA-31 Navajo The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of twin-engined low-wing tricycle gear utility aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for small cargo and feeder airlines, and as a corporate aircraft. Production ran from 1967 to 1984. It was licen ...

in 2010. The main headquarters is in the city of Oranjestad in Aruba, which is the main operation center, and the airline opened a new office at

Queen Beatrix International Airport Queen Beatrix International Airport (; ) Is an international airport located in the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba. It has flight services to the United States, Canada, several countries in the Caribbean, the northern coastal countries of Sout ...

. It also has smaller offices in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

Bonaire Bonaire is a Caribbean island in the Leeward Antilles, and is a Caribbean Netherlands, special municipality (officially Public body (Netherlands), "public body") of the Netherlands. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west (Windward an ...

Maracaibo Maracaibo ( , ; ) is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela. It is the largest city in Venezuela and is List of cities in Venezuela by population ...

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

and

Maracay Maracay () is a city in north-central Venezuela, near the Caribbean coast, and is the capital and most important city of the state of Aragua. Most of it falls under the jurisdiction of Girardot Municipality. The population of Maracay and its ...

. In early 2012 the company attracted new investors, leading to the upgrade of operations to jet aircraft. The company received an economic

air operator's certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial air transport purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets and s ...

in August 2012. The airline then arranged to lease two

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...

twin-engined 150-seat jet airliners; the first one arrived in Aruba in November 2012.Aruba Airlines welcomes their first Airbus 320
The aircraft started to fly charter flights from Aruba at the end of 2012 and scheduled operations started on 31 March 2013, with

Maracaibo, Venezuela Maracaibo ( , ; ) is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela. It is the largest city in Venezuela and is the second-largest city proper in Venezu ...

as its initial destination. Flights to

Panama City, Panama Panama City, also known as Panama, is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has a total population of 1,086,990, with over 2,100,000 in its metropolitan area. The city is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province ...

began on 5 July of that year. Aruba Airlines also started flying between Aruba to Curaçao and Santo Domingo in December 2015, operating with the Airbus A320. In May 2016, it was announced that the Curaçao-Santo Domingo flight, as well as Panama, would be temporarily suspended and that operations would resume soon when able, although no reason was given for this. In July 2016, the airline celebrated the signing of their fourth aircraft, with its first Airbus A319. The aircraft was delivered to Aruba Airlines in December 2016. Aruba Airlines announced on 2 October 2017, that it would be re-introducing service to Curaçao and introducing a new service to Bonaire. The flights would be operated with a Dash 8-300 that was signed for in September 2017, and that service to Curaçao would begin on 23 October 2017, with Bonaire's date to be announced. However, the first flight was canceled due to the Dash 8 aircraft not being delivered on time, and the airline officially commenced service to Curaçao on 25 October 2017, utilizing a

Bombardier CRJ200 The Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 (previously Canadair CRJ100 and CRJ200) are regional jets designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace between 1991 and 2006, the first of the Bombardier CRJ family. The ''Canadair Regional Jet'' (CRJ) pr ...

, leased from Voyageur Airways, that was previously used to fly between Curaçao and Sint Maarten after the aftermath of

Hurricane Irma Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Hurricane Maria, Maria two weeks later. At the time, it was considered ...

. In a press conference held live in Curaçao on 27 October 2017, Francisco Arendsz, the airlines' accountable manager, stated that the airline had planned to order an additional Dash 8-100, along with the original aircraft that was expected to be delivered as backup. This was when they revealed that the original aircraft was not ready. The current plan is to temporarily use the leased CRJ200. The second CRJ200 will be delivered, wearing the company's official livery. Bonaire was planned to commence on 16 November 2017, if Aruba Airlines was permitted by Dutch Civil Aviation Authority. Additional destinations planned for November include Barquisimeto and Punto Fijo. The press conference also reflected on the future of the airline, including destinations planned for 2018, which included

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, and

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

. Flights to Argentina and New York were planned to be flown by an

Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along ...

that had supposedly been ordered recently. On 14 November 2017, the inaugural flight to Curaçao, the CEO stated that next year there would be additional four aircraft, excluding the already ordered CRJ200 for next year. Due to sanctions made by the Venezuelan government in the first half of 2018, the fleet renewal would be announced near the end of the year.

Destinations

As of December 2023, Aruba Airlines flies to the following destinations:

Fleet

Current fleet

As of November 2023, the Aruba Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Former fleet

Aruba Airlines previously operated the following aircraft:

References

External links

Official website
{{Airlines of the Netherlands Antilles Airlines of Aruba Airlines established in 2006 2006 establishments in Aruba