Airline Name
BWIA West Indies Airways
Country of Origin
IATA: BW / ICAO: BWA / Callsign: WEST INDIAN
Aircraft Types Used (from those available in WoA)
B738 (737-800) (7 operated),A343 (A340-300) (2 operated),
Not in-game,
L101 (Lockheed L1011 TriStar 500) (4 operated),
MD83 (McDonnell Douglas MD-83) (5 operated),
Why should this airline be added?
BWIA was founded in 1939 by a kiwi chap called Lowell Yerex as an airline to connect the islands of the British West Indies to each other by plane. The airline became part of BOAC in 1949 and slowly built up their fleet of Vickers Vikings. In 1960, the airline leased some Vickers Vicount’s and Bristol Brittannia’s to fly to London via New York.BWIA stewardesses in 1955,
In 1961, the government of Trinidad and Tobago bought 90% of the shares of the airline to become the owner, and by 1967 had taken over the last 10%. In 1964, the airline got its first jets, the 727-100 for operations to North and South America and then in 1971, the acquired four second hand 707s from Braniff which allowed the airline to reopen their London route in 1975. In 1980, the 707s were replaced with the above L1011s and then in 1986, its 727s were replaced with the above MD-83s. In the 1990s, the airline was in the process of being privatised, with that completed by 1995, and the new operators ordered 757s and 767s to upgrade the fleet, but cancelled and instead ordered 2 A340s and 2 A321s which only the A321s were delivered in 1996 before the order was cancelled. The A321s were disposed of in 1997 and the airline updated its livery to the above green and yellow one in 2000. It also placed an order for 2 A340-300s and 7 737-800s which were delivered and allowed the airline to retire its older aircraft. In 2006, the airline unfortunately came to an end and the CEO announced the formation of a new airline for the ashes of BWIA, Caribbean Airlines. The airline was a regular visitor to St. Maarten and LHR and with its fancy livery, would really spice the terminal views of those airports, plus it is an historically important airline for the region.
