The regional company Air Antilles has obtained its air carrier certificate, which it had been waiting for more than seven months, and plans to resume ticket sales “by next week”, its president announced to AFP on Friday.
Air Antilles was the only air carrier with Air Caraibes to serve the French islands in this region until the judicial liquidation of its parent company, the Caire group, in August 2023. The following month, the Pointe-à- Pitre had validated the partial takeover of Cairo by Cipim (holding of the Edéis group), allied with the community of Saint-Martin, but the new company Air Antilles was waiting to obtain this document allowing it to resume its flights.
“We aim to launch ticketing by next week”
“There are still small steps to take, still a few authorizations to obtain for the planes to restart,” Air Antilles president Jérôme Arnaud told AFP. “We hope to fly again in less than a month,” he said. “We aim to launch ticketing by next week, on our site and in all travel agencies,” he added, warning that “not all lines (would) be open from beginning “. “It is very likely that the Pointe-à-Pitre-Saint-Barthélémy flight will be opened first,” he estimated.
The company, which employs 120 employees, will be able to “connect the islands of Martinique, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin and Guadeloupe in the coming days, thanks to its fleet made up of four aircraft (three ATRs and a Twin Otter ),” she detailed in a press release. Initially, its planes will not serve abroad.
The relaunch of the company is closely scrutinized by overseas elected officials, the question of the price of tickets to connect the different islands of the French West Indies, often considered too expensive, being very sensitive. Since the liquidation of Air Antilles, Air Caraibes has occupied this niche alone.
This air transport certificate granted to Air Antilles “marks a crucial step for the development of our regional air connectivity”, underlined Louis Mussington, president of the Collectivity of Saint-Martin.