BWIA, PURE
CARIBBEAN GOLD!
BRITISH WEST INDIAN
AIRWAYS
FLYING THE CARIBBEAN
Memorable airlines come and go. Their liveries change
and sometimes so does ownership. Some airlines fade into the warm glow and
fuzzy feel of nostalgia for those who knew them and flew them.
British West Indian Airways, or BWIA, or Bee-wee as it was fondly referred to by
millions of international travellers who rode the many changing aircraft in the
airline’s fleet, ceased to exist on December 31st 2006.
BWIA was the national airline based in Trinidad and
Tobago, a dual island nation at the southern-most point in the Caribbean’s
chain of island nations. BWIA itself was
formed out of an early route share with BOAC (British Overseas Aviation Corporation) decades before the Star Alliances and code shares of today’s big carriers. However it was founded in 1939
as West Indian Airlines and began
service officially on 27th November 1940. It developed direct
services to the USA, Canada, and the UK. Its main base was Piarco International
Airport (POS), Port of Spain
(Trinidad), with major hubs eventually at Barbados’ Grantley Adams
International Airport (BGI) and
Guyana’s Cheddi Jagan International Airport (GEO).
With an impeccable
safety record and a rainbow of faces representing the cultural melting-pot of
the Caribbean basin, Bee-wee and its beautiful hostesses, as they were referred to in the carrier’s heyday (1960’s,
70’s and 80’s), became the largest airline operating in and out of the
Caribbean. Things changed somewhat when hostesses became known as Flight
Attendants or FA’s and the
competition for the prized routes ramped up with more foreign carriers. The
golden age of travel was flying in the opposite direction by the 1990’s. Still,
BWIA and its crews kept their particular brand of warming onboard charm.
Boarding a BWIA flight in any of the many
international destinations the airline came to serve was a transforming
experience. The moment you stepped onboard one of their aircraft to be greeted
in the soft lilting, sing-song Trinidadian accent of the hostesses, you were
already wrapt in the ease of the Caribbean. Often times gentle calypso music
would float through the cabin as you settled into your seats but a variety of
music would be played over the cabin’s sound system to reflect the diverse
range of nationalities that were made ‘at
home’ on BWIA’s sleek Boeings, Mcdonnell-Douglas and spacious Lockheed
Tri-Star jets.
Where other airline meal services disappointed
passengers by their aromas alone, a pleasant waft of spicy curries would often
whet your sky-high appetite before your tray was gently placed in front of a
hungry you! In fact, before any of those tasty meals were even out of the
galley’s ovens you would be offered spiced channa.
A roasted chick pea of East Indian origin, channa was an exotic treat to North
American and European travellers. To Trinidadians or Trini travellers they were the first tantalising taste of home.
When other airlines suggestively crowed “We Move Our Tails For You!” BWIA’s
tailfin design of a multi coloured, abstract design of a steel pan and their family oriented slogan of “We Are The
Caribbean” was more true and more reassuring for all who had the experience and
joy of being part of the company and travelling those happy, musical, majestic,
jets.
The region is now well served internationally by
Caribbean Airlines.
