2023-10-13 20:35:52
The airline Air Caraibes announced in August 2022 the imminent suspension of its twice-weekly flights between Paris-Orly and Sint Maarten-Juliana. The suspension took effect on December 13, 2022. A direct stop due to the economic situation, inflation with the rise in fuel prices, the connection was not profitable for the Dubreuil Group.
During the entrepreneurs’ breakfast last Saturday organized by FIPCOM/MEDEF, Éric Miche, general manager of Antilles Air Caraibes was present. The opportunity for the general director to speak on the possibility of resuming direct operation on the Sint Maarten-Juliana and Paris-Orly lines.
Indeed, since the suspension of this direct service, Air France has had a monopoly as the only non-stop carrier between Sint Maarten-Juliana and Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG). As a result, the airline has experienced “explosive” growth in the price of plane tickets, riding on this monopoly, many believe. The KLM company also operates the Sint-Maarten to Paris-CDG connection with its partner Air France with a stopover in Amsterdam.
Will Air Caraibes resume operations on the Sint Maarten-Juliana – Paris-Orly route? “Air France and its partner KLM are betting big on this service, especially since this route is only available for five months and the market is mainly French. We are not able to compete with them,” declares Éric Michel.
However, the general director of Air Caraibes stressed that the airline is carefully studying the profitability of direct flights in order to be able to reposition itself on this route. But Juliana Airport would not have been particularly “welcoming” to the idea. Air Caraibes, whose breakeven point is much lower than that of Air France, is considering returning to the direct Juliana-Orly route.
Furthermore, Éric Michel recalled that the company Air Caraibes “is the only company that owns its 15 planes and the only one in France to be profitable with zero debt following the health crisis”. In particular, it repays its state-guaranteed loan, fully repaid from its own funds.
At the regional level, the general director of Air Caraibes welcomes the takeover of the company Air Antilles by the Collectivity of Saint-Martin and its partner Edeis. Air Caraibes showed no intention of taking over the West Indian company because the Dubreuil group was aware of the growing debt of the Caire group.
In addition, according to him, the service to Saint-Martin (Grand Case) faces several problems, in particular the absence of movements after 6 p.m., a runway that is too short. Although landing is possible with 74 passengers, takeoff allows for a maximum of 54 passengers.
But, Éric Michel affirms that Air Caraibes has barely increased its prices (from €95 excluding tax in 2022 to €115 excluding tax today), while the offer has been considerably reduced with the cessation of Air Antilles .
Regardless, he explains that airfares around the world are set to rise, precisely because of the gradual introduction of “clean” fuel, the price of which is four times higher than current kerosene.
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