Air Antilles: what impact on the budget?
It is impossible to ignore the Air Antilles case when discussing the Collectivité's budget forecasts. At the last territorial council meeting, the Director General of Services indicated that an information note on SEM Air Antilles had been sent to all elected representatives following the commercial court's decision to place the airline in receivership.
Natacha Pétrine pointed out that the local authority had granted a €6 million advance on a current account, taken out two loans of €10 million each, and finally a new loan of €3 million to ensure cash flow. The receivership procedure certainly allows debts (incurred before 2 January) to be frozen, but not cancelled. There are three possible options: the administrator proposes a plan to continue the business, which has been done. He has sent out a call for tenders to a group of investors who may be interested in taking over the company. The second option is a plan to sell the assets, and the third option is judicial liquidation, which the Director General of Services is not considering at this time. If the continuation plan is approved by the judicial administrator, the proposal is to convert the current account advance into a capital increase.
In the meantime, the Collectivity must comply with certain obligations, including the obligation of prudence. Once the procedure is opened, it must include a provision for risk in the 2026 initial budget. This provision will be cancelled if the continuation plan works, but if necessary it will be estimated by the administration and may run over several financial years. However, this provision is not a fixed amount and will be constituted according to the risk estimated by the administration. The President committed during the territorial council meeting to no longer request a single euro...
However, the opposition, through Marie-Dominique Ramphort of Team Gibbs, notes that the potential loss of funds committed to SEM Air Antilles was deliberately omitted from the budget guidelines report submitted to elected officials.
