Winair (WM, St. Maarten) Chief Financial Officer and Co-Manager Roberto Gibbs says his airline should receive between USD16 million and USD28 million in funding by the end of next month.

Speaking to AINOnline, he said the capital injection would allow the St. Maarten government-owned airline to refinance existing debt and increase its working capital ahead of a proposed network expansion. Winair is also planning to spend between USD3.5 million and USD4 million to exercise purchase options on the five DHC-6-300s it currently leases from Canada's Kenn Borek Air (KBA, Calgary) and Unity Group.

From its St. Maarten hub, Winair currently serves Anguilla, Basseterre, Tortola, Nevis, Saba, Saint Barthélemy, and Saint Eustatius as well as other Caribbean destinations in conjunction with Air France (AF, Paris CDG) and Air Antilles Express (Pointe à Pitre). It is also considering setting up a base in Antigua by 2017.