Air Caraïbes

Air Caraïbes
IATA ICAO Callsign
TX FWI FRENCH WEST
Founded 1969 (as Société Antillaise de Transport Aérien/Air Guadeloupe)[1]
Commenced operations July 2000[1]
Hubs Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport
Focus cities

Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport

Paris-Orly Airport
Frequent-flyer program Preference
Alliance LIAT
Fleet size 12
Destinations 14
Company slogan Haute en couleurs (Colourful)
Parent company Groupe Dubreuil
Headquarters Les Abymes, Guadeloupe
Key people Marc Rochet
Website http://www.aircaraibes.com/

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, with a hub at Le Lamentin Airport, near Fort-de-France.[3] It operates scheduled and charter services serving 13 islands in the West Indies. It also operates transatlantic flights to Paris using Airbus A330 and Airbus A350 aircraft under the "Air Caraïbes Atlantique" brand. The airline code shares with LIAT.

History

Air Caraïbes started out of the necessity to have a regional airline responding to the needs of the French Caribbean territories. The company was founded in July 2000 through the merger of various local airlines (Air Guadeloupe, Air Martinique, Air Saint Barthélémy, Air Saint Martin). In 2002, the company flew 445,000 passengers and had €68 million in revenues. It is part of the Carib Sky Alliance, an airline alliance which comprises in addition to Air Caraïbes the following airlines: Leeward Islands Air Transport and Winair (Windward Islands Airways).

It was established as Societe Caribéenne de Transports Aériens and started operations in September 1994. It started services to Paris from Guadeloupe and Martinique in December 2003 using an Airbus A330-200. The airline is owned by Groupe Dubreuil (85%) and has 627 employees (at March 2007).[3]

Air Caraïbes Express uses Travel Technology Interactive's airline management system, Aeropack.

Air Caraibes existed before 1990. They were 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

Fleet

Air Caraïbes Airbus A350-941 at Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport in new livery (March 2017)
Air Caraïbes Airbus A330 in former livery

As of April 2017, the Air Caraïbes (including Air Caraïbes Atlantique) fleet consists of the following aircraft:[4]

Air Caraïbes Fleet

Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
J Y+ Y Total
Airbus A330-200 2 — 12 24 267 303
— — 318 318
Airbus A330-300 4 — 12 35 307 354 Operated by Air Caraïbes Atlantique
— 28 350 378
Airbus A350-900 2 1 18 45 326 389
Airbus A350-1000 — 3 TBA 439[5] Entering in service: 2020 [5]
ATR 72-500 2 — — — 70 70
ATR 72-600 2 1[6][7] — — 74 74
Total 13 5

Previously operated

Air Caraïbes has operated the following aircraft types:

At August 2006 the airline also operated:[8]

The airline also operated the following aircraft in the past:[9]

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 onto 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.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 Norwood, Tom; Wegg, John (2002). North American Airlines Handbook (3rd ed.). Sandpoint, ID: Airways International. ISBN 0-9653993-8-9. Archived from the original on 2016-11-28.
  2. ↑ "Legal Notice Archived 2010-07-14 at the Wayback Machine.." Air Caraïbes. Retrieved on 24 June 2010.
  3. 1 2 Flight International 27 March 2007
  4. ↑ "FLEET PLAN". aircaraibes.com. 15 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  5. 1 2 http://www.businesstravel.fr/air-caraib2-premiers-vols-en-a350-en-2016-2017.html
  6. ↑ "Le F-OSIX bientôt dans le ciel antillais" [Soon F-OSIX in the Caribbean sky]. www.la1ere.francetvinfo.fr (in French). 13 December 2016.
  7. ↑ "Air Caraïbes takes delivery of its first ATR 72-600". www.atraircraft.com. 14 December 2016.
  8. ↑ Flight International, 3–9 October 2006
  9. ↑ North American Airlines Handbook published by Airways International Inc 1997
  10. ↑ "bea-fr.org" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-11-20. Retrieved 2014-11-13.
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