An Air Antilles ATR 72-600. (Air Journal photo)
MARIGOT--The two short-haul regional airlines Air Antilles and Air Guyane Express belonging to parent group Compagnie Aérienne Inter-Régionale Express (CAIRE) are in crisis over the pilots’ strike that is now in its third week, with so far no solution following Friday’s negotiations.
Air Caraïbes is picking up the surplus of passengers from Air Antilles flights, but not all Air Antilles flights have been cancelled. Air Guyane Express services the route between Guadeloupe and French Guiana.
The strike was initially scheduled to last from July 14 to 19. Faced with no progress in negotiations, the strike was extended for an unlimited period, creating serious financial difficulties for the Caire Group, which employs some 300 people.
Following a previous dispute within the group last December, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between the pilots’ unions and management concerning wage increases, pending negotiations which were to follow a very precise timetable in order to finally reach a pilots’ collective agreement.
Syndicat National des Pilotes de Ligne (SNPL), the French airline pilots’ union, considers that all the commitments made have not been honoured and has called on the company’s management to “immediately put in place an advantageous pilots’ agreement including a significant pay rise of 5.5% that respects the unfailing commitment of flight deck crews over so many years.”
CAIRE Chief Executive Officer Eric Koury told Agence France Presse (AFP) that he was filing for suspension of payments with the Pointe-à-Pitre Commercial Court.
“Shareholders were ready to recapitalise the group, but now confidence has been lost, and everyone is backing down,” Koury told AFP on Monday, July 24. He also confided that “the industrial action would cost between 80,000 euros and 120,000 euros a day,” adding that “no airline can withstand a long pilot strike at the height of the peak season, after having suffered the full force of the health crisis for over two years.”
Alarmed by a situation that would be highly detrimental to Caribbean airspace, Guadeloupe Senator Victorin Lurel immediately reacted by sending a letter to the Minister of Transport and the Minister Delegate for Overseas Territories on Tuesday, asking the government to take the initiative of mediation to renew dialogue in this conflict.
In his letter, Lurel stated that “a liquidation of Air Antilles would be catastrophic for the air service offer from Guadeloupe, in particular to Martinique and the Northern Islands (Saint-Martin and St. Barths) for business travel as well as for students in the new school year, not forgetting family reunions. There is every reason to expect ticket prices to soar once again, as there will only be one player on the market.”
At the start of the week the SNPNC-FO union for cabin crew (flight attendants) decided to follow the lead of the airline pilots, by also filing a strike notice. They too are calling for talks to be opened with the CAIRE group, denouncing an unstable situation within the company, further worsened by inflation. The SNPNC-FO filed an unlimited strike notice as of Thursday July 27.
Reactions and demands are also multiplying on the part of the unions, which are also calling on the relevant authorities to “find a solution that defends the interests of employees and the long-term future of the company.”
Aware that their jobs were in jeopardy, Air Antilles ground staff issued a press release to the airline pilots in recent days. While expressing their solidarity with the pilots, the ground staff are asking them to return to work, so that not all of the group’s 300 employees lose their jobs in the end.
The Commercial Court’s verdict on the future of Air Antilles is expected on August 2.
