St. Maarten Airline Concerned by Deal St. Maarten Airline Winair Concerned About Caribbean Star Deal PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten (AP) -- The manager of St. Maarten-based airline Winair is concerned by Caribbean Star's plan to buy the regional operations of American Eagle. Such a deal, he said, could shut out smaller airlines and crimp their competitiveness. ``With the (landing) rights that American Eagle now has and with its fleet, Caribbean Star would become not just a ..., but the dominant player in Caribbean aviation,'' said John Strugnell, managing director of Winair. Antigua-based Caribbean Star announced last week that it was considering buying the San Juan, Puerto Rico-based operations of American Eagle, a subsidiary of American Airlines. Caribbean Star, which began operations in 2000 flying to most islands in the region, said its chairman Allen Stanford has already begun preliminary discussions with officials of Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines. Winair is a small commuter airline that flies to the Dutch islands of Saba and St. Eustatius as well as St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua, Dominica, St. Barths and Tortola. Caribbean Star does not currently have landing rights in Dutch St. Maarten, but American Eagle does -- and those rights would go to the new owner. Strugnell said he feared that if Caribbean Star buys American Eagle, the consolidation could push Winair out of business and raise fares. _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com