AIR CARAÏBES INAUGURAL FLIGHT MARKS
NEW MILESTONE TO PJIA
Air
Caraïbes inaugural transatlantic flight to St. Maarten on Saturday Dec.
12, was greeted with much fanfare at Princess Juliana Airport (PJIA) as
airport officials, the two tourism offices, and Government 2009
ignitaries from both sides of the island laid on the full red carpet
treatment.
The arrival of flight 534, a relatively new Airbus 330 with 324
passengers on board, ushered in Air Caraïbes’ twice weekly Paris Orly-St.
Maarten-Haiti service. Among the passengers were 21 specialised
journalists and 46 French tour operators and travel agents who were on a
3-day familiarisation visit to St. Martin.
Speakers at the ceremony included PJIAE President drs. Eugene Holiday,
Commissioner of Tourism and Aviation Affairs Frans Richardson, Senator
Louis-Constant Fleming, First Vice-President Daniel Gibbs, and Air
Caraïbes President Marc Rochet. Speeches were followed by a ribbon
cutting and exchange of gifts with Air Caraïbes executives and flight
crew in the departure lounge.
drs. Holiday said the new Air Caraïbes service “fits well” into PJIA’s
objective to increase and diversify its airlift into St. Maarten from
Europe.` “This new service expresses a renewed confidence and commitment
in St. Maarten by the management of Air Caraïbes,” he said. “It is
especially important when the global economy, airlines, and airport are
facing financial challenges. We appreciate your decision to start direct
flights from Paris and we will continue to work with you to make this
service a success.”
Mr. Marc Rochet called St. Maarten a “unique” destination, describing
the inaugural flight into St. Maarten as “a great day for Air Caraïbes”.
The last route opened by the airline, he said, was Cayenne one year ago.
“This is another step forward in the company’s development in
establishing a better connectivity network in the Caribbean,” he added.
He disclosed the airline is currently set to record its healthiest
profit in five years. “We are proud to say we have built something that
has been an incredible success. We have an airline that is sustainable
and profitable. But also one that offers quality service. Our surveys
constantly show that customers are happy with what we offer.”
Air Caraïbes, created in 1998 by the Dubreuil Group from a merger of
four small airlines that serviced the French islands, transported
513,000 passengers on its long haul flights in 2008 and 522,000 on its
regional flights. The company generated annual revenue of over
230-million Euros and posted a 6-million Euro profit in 2008. It
transported over a million passengers in 2009 and aims to increase that
by 50 per cent in 2010, Rochet added.
The airline is the first to offer a non-stop service from Port-au-
Prince to Paris. Haiti has not previously been well connected to Europe
but Rochet said his company “was now pleased to support the economy of
this poor country by offering the best prices to Haitian nationals.”
Observers say the airline has an advantage over other European carriers
coming to St. Maarten by negotiating deals with rail network partners
SNCF and to give passengers convenient access to the French provinces.
Passengers from any of the 13 rail stations in 11 regions of France can
buy a combined rail/ Air Caraïbes air ticket and be transported to or
from Massy station (closest to Orly) by high speed TGV trains.
Air
Caraïbes’s Regional Manager for the North Eastern Caribbean MS. Zoé
Wegnerowicz said Orly-Sud was a “perfect solution” for passengers that
have the South of France as their final destination. “Orly-Sud is not as
busy as Charles de Gaulle Airport and offers good connections to the
south,” she said. “Many people from the French Antilles have family in
that region.”
Mr. Rochet said the company has three important goals. One is to offer
Caribbean nationals, mainly in the French zones, the opportunity of
employment with the airline. “Currently the airline has 874 staff and
more than 500 of them are Caribbean nationals. We will continue this
policy because we believe Caribbean people are very warm and they
provide our customers with good service.”
The second goal as a regional and long haul operator is to give
confidence to other airlines that, as Air Caraïbes has shown over the
years, it is possible to have success and be profitable in the Caribbean
region. The third goal is
to support the world economy, environmental concerns, and offer people
in all islands the opportunity to fly and at cheaper prices. “Good
pricing only happens when there is good competition, and that benefits
everybody. But no competition has the opposite effect. I do believe with
more airlines flying the Paris St. Maarten route prices will come down.”
Air
Caraïbes inaugural transatlantic flight to St. Maarten on Saturday Dec.
12, was greeted with much fanfare at Princess Juliana Airport (PJIA) as
airport officials, the two tourism offices, and Government 2009
ignitaries from both sides of the island laid on the full red carpet
treatment.
Air
Caraïbes’s Regional Manager for the North Eastern Caribbean MS. Zoé
Wegnerowicz said Orly-Sud was a “perfect solution” for passengers that
have the South of France as their final destination. “Orly-Sud is not as
busy as Charles de Gaulle Airport and offers good connections to the
south,” she said. “Many people from the French Antilles have family in
that region.”
