on a flight from
Curaçao to
Miami in 1943 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 22 December 1934, marked the beginning of the company. 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 1 August 1964, the West-Indisch Bedrijf was transformed into
ALM Antillean Airlines, in which the Netherlands Antilles became a shareholder. ==Fleet==