BWIA, PURE CARIBBEAN GOLD! BRITISH WEST INDIAN AIRWAYS FLYING THE CARIBBEAN

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 31^st 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 27^th 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.