Français
In a press release issued late on Monday afternoon, the management of Air Antilles announced that its operations would be halted."We would like to inform you that due to an administrative suspension of our flights, our company will not be able to ensure its operations as of tomorrow, and this for an as yet undetermined period of time", it is written in the document.
According to information gathered by JSB on Monday December 8, the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) has decided to withdraw Air Antilles' Air Operator Certificate (AOC). This decision takes effect at midnight on Monday December 8.
As a reminder, the Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Martin is the majority shareholder in Air Antilles.
Interviewed on Monday by RCI's Caraïbes Soir program, Louis Mussington, President of the Collectivité de Saint-Martin, said: "I have learned from Matignon that the DGAC (French Civil Aviation Authority) is going to suspend our air transport certificate for what may be a relatively short period, as they have noted some anomalies in the safety measures that should have been taken beforehand. I deeply regret this decision, but when it comes to passenger safety, they have the right to be intransigent. I blame our management for not having taken the right decisions to avoid such measures being taken. This has nothing to do with the planes themselves, it's just paperwork."
In its press release, Air Antilles said its teams were "fully mobilized to restore the situation and enable operations to resume as soon as possible."
Further details in a forthcoming publication and in the Thursday December 11 edition of JSB.
