The Pointe-à-Pitre Commercial Court validated on Friday September 29 the takeover of the company Air Antilles by a tandem made up of EDEIS and the Overseas Territorial Collectivity of Saint-Martin. Air Guyane, for its part, disappears.
The liquidation of the Guadeloupean group CAIRE (Interregional Express Airline) on August 2 has just reached an intermediate conclusion which will console some a little, but sadden others. The Pointe-à-Pitre Commercial Court recorded on Friday September 29 the takeover of the regional company Air Antilles by the tandem formed by EDEIS and the Overseas Territorial Collectivity of Saint-Martin. The other airline managed by CAIRE, Air Guyane, is definitively liquidated.
A little more than half of the workforce taken over
The takeover of Air Antilles will be carried out via the creation of a local mixed economy company, “New Air Antilles”, with capital of 2 million euros shared 60% by the Territorial Collectivity of Saint- Martin and 40% by EDEIS. The recovery plan provides for the retention of 120 employees (out of a total of 218 existing employees), the immediate recovery of four aircraft and the addition of a fifth in the short term, the concentration of the company on service routes to territories of the French Antilles, departing from Pointe-à-Pitre and bound for Fort-de-France, Saint-Martin Grand Case and Saint-Barthélémy. “It is a great pride and a great responsibility to take over Air Antilles two decades after its creation. We are convinced that the West Indians must be able to benefit from an accessible and adapted transport offer, essential to opening up their territories,” declared Jean-Luc Schnoebelen, president of EDEIS.
EDEIS, an important player in airport management
Created in 2002, Air Antilles has operated up to twelve destinations in the Antilles and the rest of the Caribbean, with a fleet which reaches a total of 12 aircraft (4 ATR 42-500, 1 ATR 42-600, 2 ATR 72-600 , 2 DHC-6-300 Twin Otters, 2 DHC-6-400 Twin Otters, 1 Cessna 208 Caravan). EDEIS was created in 2016 to take over the airport assets of SNC-Lavalin in France. It now manages the assets of the 14 French mainland airports (Aix-les-Milles, Angers, Auxerre, Bourges, Chalon, Cherbourg, Dijon, Dole, Lorient, Nîmes, Reims, Toulouse (Francazal), Tours, Troyes and two airports Overseas (Dzaoudzi and Saint-Martin).
