Air Antilles Explained

Airline:	Air Antilles
Fleet Size:	4
Destinations:	3
Iata:	4I
Icao:	KES
Callsign:	KARIBEES
Parent:	Air Guyane Express
Founded:	December 2002
Headquarters:	Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, France
Hubs:	Pointe-à-Pitre
Secondary Hubs:	Martinique

Air Antilles is a French regional airline based at Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport in Guadeloupe. It operates scheduled and seasonal services throughout the French Antilles.

History

The airline began operations in December 2002 owned by Air Guyane, which itself used to be a subsidiary of Guadeloupean group CAIRE. It is another brand name for Air Guyane Express's Caribbean operations and both airlines share their call sign, IATA and ICAO codes. The airline uses as its Airline Reservations System Zenith, developed by Travel Technology Interactive, a French-based company.

In 2016, the airline changed its name to Air Antilles and introduced a new livery with the delivery of its first ATR 72-600.

In September 2023, the group CAIRE of which both Air Antilles and Air Guyane were a part of was terminated. Air Antilles was set to be brought up by a public-private partnership, while Air Guyane was to be liquidated. Air Antilles is said to resume the selling of tickets online in May 2024, with a reduced service, instead only serving Fort-de-France, Pointe-à-Pitre, Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin. However, there are still plans for their full service to swing back into action in the upcoming year.^[1]

Destinations

City	Airport	IATA	ICAO	Notes	Refs
Osbourn	V. C. Bird International Airport	ANU	TAPA	Suspended	^[2]
Bridgetown	Grantley Adams International Airport	BGI	TBPB	Suspended
Marigot	Douglas–Charles Airport	DOM	TDPD	Suspended
Roseau	Canefield Airport	DCF	TDCF	Suspended
Punta Cana	Punta Cana International Airport	PUJ	MDPC
Santo Domingo	Las Américas International Airport	SDQ	MDSD	Suspended
Pointe-à-Pitre	Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport	PTP	TFFR
Fort-de-France	Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport	FDF	TFFF
San Juan	Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport	SJU	TJSJ	Suspended
Saint-Jean	Gustaf III Airport	SBH	TFFJ
Castries	George F.L. Charles Airport	SLU	TLPC	Suspended
Grand Case	L'Espérance Airport	SFG	TFFG
Philipsburg	Princess Juliana International Airport	SXM	TNCM	Suspended

Fleet

As of October 2019, Air Antilles operates the following aircraft:^[3]

Air Antilles fleet
Aircraft	In service	Passengers	Notes
ATR 72-600	2	72
de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter	1	19	leased from Zimex Aviation
Total	3

Accidents and incidents

On August 24, 2023, Air Antilles flight 3S722 veered off of runway 28 at the Saint Barthélemy airport moments after touchdown. The aircraft involved was a DHC-6-400 Twin Otter registered F-OMYS. The Twin Otter then stuck a parked and unoccupied helicopter that had landed 30 minutes prior. While none of the six on board the Twin Otter were seriously injured, the high speed impact caused substantial damage to both aircraft.^[4] The pilots blamed the loss of directional control on a steering issue. Furthermore, video evidence shows F-OMYS having steering difficulties while taxiing at Saint Barth only ten days prior to the crash.^[5] Air Antilles was temporarily suspended from flying to Saint Barth following the accident.^[6]

External links

- Air Antilles Express route map on archive.org

Notes and References

Web site: Antilles . Air . Accueil . 2024-09-13 . Air Antilles . fr.
Web site: Fly Air Antilles . 2024-05-07.
Global Airline Guide 2019 (Part One). Airliner World. October 2019page=15.
Web site: Runway excursion Accident Viking Air DHC-6 Twin Otter 400 F-OMYS . 2024-06-08 . aviation-safety.net.
Plane Suffers Power Steering Problem . 2023-08-14 . Roland Steiger . 2024-06-08 . YouTube.
Web site: Air Antilles suspended from Saint Barthélemy following crash . 2024-06-08 . ch-aviation . en.