Air Caraïbes
Air Caraïbes
| |||||||
| Founded | 1969 (as Société Antillaise de Transport Aérien/Air Guadeloupe)[1] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commenced operations | July 2000[1] | ||||||
| Hubs | Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport | ||||||
| Focus cities |
| ||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | Preference | ||||||
| Fleet size | 14 | ||||||
| Destinations | 14 | ||||||
| Company slogan | Haute en couleurs (Colourful) | ||||||
| Parent company | Groupe Dubreuil | ||||||
| Headquarters | Les Abymes, Guadeloupe, France | ||||||
| Key people | Marc Rochet | ||||||
| Website | http://www.aircaraibes.com/ [13] | ||||||
Air Caraïbes is a French airline and is the regional airline of the French Caribbean which comprises two overseas departments of France; Guadeloupe and Martinique. The airline is headquartered in Les Abymes in Guadeloupe,[2] and its main base is Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport in Guadeloupe, with a secondary hub at Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport, near Fort-de-France in Martinique.[3] It operates scheduled and charter services serving 13 islands in the West Indies, and also operates transatlantic flights to Paris in Metropolitan France using Airbus A330 and Airbus A350 aircraft under the Air Caraïbes Atlantique brand.
| |||||||
| Founded | 1969 (as Société Antillaise de Transport Aérien/Air Guadeloupe)[1] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commenced operations | July 2000[1] | ||||||
| Hubs | Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport | ||||||
| Focus cities |
| ||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | Preference | ||||||
| Fleet size | 14 | ||||||
| Destinations | 14 | ||||||
| Company slogan | Haute en couleurs (Colourful) | ||||||
| Parent company | Groupe Dubreuil | ||||||
| Headquarters | Les Abymes, Guadeloupe, France | ||||||
| Key people | Marc Rochet | ||||||
| Website | http://www.aircaraibes.com/ [13] | ||||||
History
The airline was originally established as Societe Caribéenne de Transports Aériens, and started operations in September 1994. The current Air Caraïbes was founded in July 2000 through the merger of various local airlines Air Guadeloupe, Air Martinique, Air Saint Barthélémy, and Air Saint Martin, and was created in response to the air transport needs of the French Caribbean territories. In 2002, the company flew 445,000 passengers and had €68 million in revenues. In December 2003, the airline began services to Paris Orly Airport from Guadeloupe and Martinique using an Airbus A330-200.
The airline is owned by Groupe Dubreuil (85%) and has 627 employees as of March 2007.[3] Air Caraïbes uses Travel Technology Interactive's airline management system, Aeropack.
Air Caraibes existed before 1990, operating Britten-Norman BN2-A Islander and Cessna Caravan prop aircraft. That year, one of their BN2-A's was sold to a Norwegian parachute club and flown from Guadeloupe to Florida and then to Oslo, Norway.
Destinations
Codeshare agreements
Air Caraïbes has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:[4]
Aigle Azur
Corsair International
French Bee
Fleet
An Air Caraïbes Airbus A350-900 XWB painted in the new livery at Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport (March 2017.)
An Air Caraïbes Airbus A330-200 wearing the former livery.
Previously operated
Air Caraïbes has operated the following aircraft types:[10]
ATR 42-500
ATR 72-212
Cessna 208 Caravan
Cessna Citation
Embraer 175LR
Embraer 190LR
Embraer ERJ-145 MP
DHC-6-300 Twin Otter
Dornier 228-200
GAF N24A Nomad
Incidents and accidents
On 7 December 1999, a Beechcraft 1900D crashed onto a mountain near Belle-Anse, Haiti. All 20 people on board were killed.
On 24 March 2001, Air Caraïbes Flight 1501 crashed into a house while on approach to Saint Barthélemy Airport in Saint Barthélemy with 17 passengers and 2 crews. Everyone on board perished. One person on the ground died in the subsequent fire. The investigation concluded that the crash was caused by the pilot's error in managing the thrust lever. The report blamed the crew for accidentally entering the thrust into BETA range.[11]