Another airline shuts down and cancels last flights

With larger numbers of tourists coming out to the French West Indies at the time, Air Antilles was established in 2002 to fly between the French overseas territories of Guadeloupe, Martinique and St. Bathélemy.

The airline both shuttled tourists between the different islands making up the French West Indies and provided a critical link for local residents.

But in December 2025, the holiday airline had to initially temporarily suspend all of its flights after French aviation regulatory agency Direction de la Sécurité de l’Aviation Civile revoked the carrier’s operating license following a failed safety audit. With Air Antillles unable to run flights and not having the financial resources to fix the technical issues that caused it to fail the audit, it quickly ran up debt of over 56 million euros.

Air Antilles shuts down forever after court-ordered liquidation

In April 2026, the Commercial Court of Pointe-à-Pitre ruled that it “was impossible to present a recovery plan through continued operations” and ordered the full liquidation of the airline.

While Air Antilles has not run any flights since last December when hundreds of travelers on different airlines were left abruptly stranded, it has officially filed for closure as an airline on May 11.

Related: Holiday airline declares bankruptcy, all flights canceled

The canceled flights that have yet to be picked up by competitors include links between its bases in Pointe-à-Pitre (PTP) and Fort-de-France (FDF) to Dominica and St. Lucia. At the moment, these smaller islands are left without direct air access to the main hub.

The fleet ordered to be liquidated includes two 72-passenger ATR 72s, one smaller ATR 42 with room for 48 passengers and one De Havilland Canada DHC 6 Twin Otter with a capacity for 19. Approximately 116 Air Antilles flight crew and other employees have also been left unemployed by the airline’s collapse.

Air Antilles was a French airline serving the Caribbean archipelago.

Air Antilles

A short timeline of the Air Antilles shutdown

While several smaller airlines currently serves the French Antilles, Air Antilles marks a critical loss both to the local community and travelers from France and the U.S. coming in to Guadeloupe or Martinique with the plan to go on to more distant islands.

These airlines shut down in bankruptcy in 2026:Spirit Airlines: The largest airline shutdown of the year occurred when Spirit Airlines canceled all remaining flights on May 2. While the airline had filed for Chapter 11 protection twice, the skyrocketing price of jet fuel dealt the final blow.Magnicharters: While not yet fully shut down, the Mexican low-cost airline canceled all flights until May 2026 in a shutdown that left thousands stranded.Starflite Aviation: Houston-based Starflite Aviation had its AOC license revoked in March 2026, amid FAA claims that owners falsified pilot training records to bypass safety audits.AlpAvia: Slovenian charter airline AlpAvia also shut down in March 2026 over financial problems.H-Bird: Charter airline H-Bird was declared bankrupt by a Swedish judge in January 2026 after losing its operating license at the end of 2025.

More Travel News:

Airline to launch unusual new flight to Cayman Islands from the U.S.What you can expect at Disneyland’s new ‘World of Frozen’Unexpected country is most luxurious travel destination for 2026U.S. government issues strange warning on Ireland travel

The court in Guadeloupe initially considered three potential acquisition orders from local hedge funds and holdings companies but ultimately deemed them insufficient to cover the airline’s losses and ensure that it could keep operating into the future.

Related: Low-cost airline cancels multiple European flights

#airline #shuts #cancels #flights