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Air ALM began as ALM, the Caribbean division of European giant KLM. KLM wanted to compete with Pan Am in the Caribbean and in South America and so created ALM, leasing the airline DC-8 jets so the airline could reach places like JFK International Airport in New York.
Eventually, ALM grew into a large Caribbean-area airline, with flights to Miami International Airport, to Trinidad & Tobago, and Santo Domingo. They also operated an intensive inter-island connection, flights to many large VenezuelanThe Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela "Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela") is a country in northern South America. 1 It borders the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Guyana to the east, Brazil to cities and flights to Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, then known as Isla Verde International, in Carolina, Puerto RicoCarolina is a city located in the northern part of Puerto Rico, a short distance from San Juan. Along with San Juan, Bayamon, Guaynabo and Canovanas, it is considered to be a part of the island's metropolitan area''. Don Gaspar Martinez donated the land w. The Luis Munoz Marin route would become a staple of the airline. Except for a short period in the late 1980sMillennia: 1st millennium 2nd millennium 3rd millennium Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s Years: 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 Events and trends, they served Luis Munoz until their bankruptcy.
Such expansion gave ALM the need for a smaller airplane that could efficiently cover short, international or domestic routes with good passenger loads. They therefore introduced the DC-9, among the smallest of the bigger airplanesSee also: Jet (disambiguation A jet is a stream of fluid produced by discharge through an orifice into free space. Since gases are compressible fluids, the velocity attained by a jet of gas cannot be determined by Bernoulli's principle. Instead, if one us available. The DC-9 proved efficient for the airline for two decades and the DC-8s were soon returned to KLM.
Political changes such as the independence of Aruba affected the airline: not only did they have to decrease their frequencies from the new country, but they also faced new competition in the shape of Air ArubaAir Aruba was the main air carrier from the island of Aruba. Set up soon after Aruba's separation from the Netherlands Antilles, Air Aruba became a major competitor of Air ALM, offering DC-9 jet flights through the Caribbean and to Miami International Air, another DC-9 operator that had a large share of passengers on Caribbean routes for many years. ALM during the 1990sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s Years: Events and trends Computers, technology Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other techn grew disenchanted with their association with KLM, obtaining independence from the European airline a few years after the start of that decade, selling their DC-9s and settling for service as an all-propeller airline. The name change to Air ALM came after they were independent from KLM.
As Air ALM, they re-introduced services to Puerto Rico, and the flights to Venezuelan cities were kept. It is ironic that Air ALM went into direct competition with their creators at KLM during their later years, offering flights to Amsterdam with a partner airline.
Government and public uninterest drove the airline into bankruptcy. By 2001, some of Air ALMs airplanes were broken-up near Curaçao's airport, and no one was willing to buy the airline. Late in 2002, the Curaçao regional Government announced interest in creating a substitute to Air Alm.