The Insiders' Guide to St. Barths: Air Caraïbes annonce un retour à la normale

AFTER A TURBULENT MONTH, AIR CARAIBES ANNOUNCES A RETURN TO NORMAL SERVICE
Flights delayed, rerouted to SXM in order to switch aircraft, or flatly cancelled without explanation...for a month now, Air Caraibes ticket holders scheduled with destination of or departure from SBH might just as well spared themselves the trouble of showing up...many missing trans-atlantic connections. According to Serge T., company general manager, the major disruptions came to a end today and service should return to normal over the next few days.
Looming in the backdrop of these service disruptions had been the financial difficulties of STAG, Societe de Transport de l'Archipel Gaudeloupeen. Contracted by Air Caraibes since summer 2007 to service its ticket holders between Guadeloupe and its tiniest island destinations, STAG, according to Serge T., had been beset by problems which had dragged on and finally led to a termination of services on June 30. "Up until this date we couldn't alter the situation, all decisions being legally the purview of the management of STAG. Facing this reality, we had to, however, take some self protective measures. And, it was for these reasons that I decided to close flights a month ago." Those flights still maintained were serviced on a "luck of the draw" basis...much to the chagrin of those unfortunate passengers.
AIR CARAIBES sur AIR ANTILLES EXPRESS
Air Caraibes service between Pointe-a-Pitre and SBH returned to normal yesterday, Tuesday July 1 with Air Antilles Express picking up the servicing according to a code sharing agreement: "frankly, we share half of our seats sold with our code share partners", added Serge T. Notwithstanding this, responsibility for making one's trans-atlantic connection, however, is entirely passed on to the Air Caraibes passenger. At this time, there are 4 daily roundtrips flights connecting the islands, but with the delivery Monday evening of a second Twin Otter to the Air Antilles fleet, that number could be increased to 6 or even 8 flights in high season.
Service between SXM and SBH, however, is still currently closed. Passengers holding Air Caraibes tickets will be serviced by other airlines. Serge T. announces that Air Caraibes service between SXM and SBH will resume July 15 in codeshare with Tropical Airlines, who has purchased equipment from STAG.
Service between SXM and SBH as well as Pointe-a-Pitre and SBH should be maintained at their previous levels.