[3] On 30 August 1962, the company was purchased from Herman van Eyck by the Surinamese government and renamed Surinam Airways or in Dutch SLM – Surinaamse Luchtvaart Maatschappij.

It operated international routes to Amsterdam, Belém, Curacao, Georgetown, Manaus, Miami and Panama City, and domestic services to Apoera, Avanavero, Bakhuys, Djoemoe, Ladouanie, Moengo and Nieuw Nickerie.

[9] On 7 June 1989, a Douglas DC-8-62 (registration: N1809E, first named Fajalobi, later re-christened into Anthony Nesty crashed on approach to Zanderij Airport, killing 175 occupants on board.

[11] From August 2004 until the end of 2009 Surinam Airways operated a Boeing 747-300 (PZ-TCM, named 'Ronald Elwin Kappel'), which was purchased from KLM.

[15] A Boeing 737-700 (PZ-TCS, named 'District of Saramacca') was leased from DAE Capital and arrived on 30 April 2018 in Suriname and became operational in May 2018,[16][17] this plane was formerly flown by Air China.

The aircraft was registered PZ-TCU, named 'Bird of the Green Paradise' with a special livery and performed its first commercial ETOPS flight in December 2020.

[28] In July 2022 the management of Surinam Airways announced the company would dry lease a Boeing 737-800 for its regional routes in order to reduce its Monthly expenditure.

With a thorough implementation of the recovery plan, it is assumed that no claim will have to be made to the coverage provided," the senior management of the company reports on 25 July 2022.