KLM West-Indisch Bedrijf (WIB^[1] or KLM West Indies Company) was a subsidiary of KLM, which operated flights within the Dutch West-Indies (Netherlands Antilles and Suriname) and their neighbouring countries.

History

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 December 22, 1934, marked the beginning of the company.^[2][3]

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 August 1, 1964, the West-Indisch Bedrijf was transformed into ALM Antillean Airlines, in which the Netherlands Antilles became a shareholder.^[4]

Fleet

KLM West-Indisch Bedrijf operated the following aircraft:^[5]