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The period of respite is short, but it offers a breath of fresh air for Air Antilles and its majority shareholder, the Collectivité de Saint-Martin. On Tuesday September 30, a ministerial decree confirmed the extension of the airline's operating license. This is for a period of four months, until January 31 2026. A relief for the President of the Collectivité de Saint-Martin, Louis Mussington, but also and above all for the company's 114 employees. Nevertheless, Air Antilles is still far from out of the woods.
In a press release issued on Tuesday September 30, the company explains: "This decision follows constructive negotiations with the State and the ministries concerned. It aims to ensure territorial continuity and support the development of Air Antilles, which plays a vital economic and social role in the French West Indies. The license extension is recognition of the credibility of the action plan implemented by Air Antilles. This plan includes a change in shareholder structure, initiated in the summer of 2025 with the involvement of an investment bank, and the finalization of a development project hitherto hampered by administrative constraints. "
Ten to twenty million euros needed
Interviewed by Agence France-Presse, Chairman Louis Mussington asserted that "we must do everything possible to save the Air Antilles soldier and ensure that he continues to fly, enabling our fellow citizens to travel at reasonable prices. "He added: "A one-month extension did not meet the expectations of investors or airlines like Corsair or Air France.With a license covering the entire winter period, Corsair told me it was willing to sign an interline contract, which would enable it to carry passengers from Paris to Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy. "This would offer the airline the chance to finally land the partnership sought by management since its relaunch in June 2024. But this is not the only obligation that must be met before the end of January 2026.
As the President of the Collectivité de Saint-Martin has repeatedly stated, Air Antilles cannot survive without a capital injection of between ten and twenty million euros. To achieve this, we need to find new investors. To open up Air Antilles' capital, restructure the shareholder base and attract new financial partners, an investment bank has been commissioned. No fewer than seven proposals have been put forward in recent days, including that of the German investment group Panaf, based in Frankfurt. This group has made a specialty of injecting funds into regional aviation companies, notably in the South Pacific. President Mussington also took advantage of the ITFM, the world's largest travel and tourism trade show, held in Paris from September 23 to 25, to canvass potential partners.
While President Mussington declares himself optimistic, the airline's future is far from assured. For, beyond the influx of new capital and the figures put forward by management ("Nearly 100,000 passengers have already flown with the company since the start of the year, including almost 30.000 in August alone", the company states in a press release), the Caribbean environment is both fragile and competitive. Not only in terms of the services on offer, but also in terms of fares, even if the latter are sometimes very similar. Quality of service often makes the difference for customers. Whether local or not.
Since the partial takeover of the company, the Collectivité de Saint-Martin has invested over sixteen million euros. The other shareholder, the Edeis group, has invested just over four million. With the same objective: to ensure territorial continuity between the French islands of the Antilles. A challenge that doesn't sit well with the need for short-term profitability.
