Caribbean: Bonsai Air France, which flies away from France

France doesn’t end at Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Finistère, the Pyrenees, or the Côte d’Azur. To this day, the overseas hinterland is also part of the country. 2.8 million people, or four percent of the total population, live away from the mainland.

About two-fifths of these French people live abroad in their native Caribbean. Even if they are in the same area – the French Antilles with Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin and French Guiana are sometimes hundreds of kilometers apart. Therefore, aircraft are an important means of transportation for the population.

base in Guadeloupe

Air France has been flying to the Caribbean regions since 1947. While in other overseas territories only local airlines take over the good distribution, they are also active there themselves. Réseau Régional Caraïbes is the name of France’s national airline serving the French Antilles and French Guiana. It is a kind of Air France bonsai of the Caribbean.

Air France has placed two new double-cabin Airbus A320s (F-GKXs and F-GKXTs) at Guadeloupe-Paul Caraibes Airport in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe. Managed by local crews. They operate up to 23 flights a week all year round. Destinations are Caen, Fort-de-France (Martinique) and Miami.

Long distance network connection

There are also seasonal flights from Pointe-à-Pitre to Punta Cana and Montreal and from May from Cayenne to Belém in Brazil. Air France also offers connections to its global network from Réseau Régional Caraïbes. Connections are coordinated in such a way as to allow passengers to transfer to flights to Paris at Pointe-et-Pitre, Fort-de-France and Cayenne.