Air Calédonie given six-month restructuring extension

By Andrew Curran.

The Nouméa Commercial Court (Tribunal Mixte de Commerce) has granted Air Calédonie’s administrator a six-month extension to finalise the airline’s recovery plan. The administrator now has until April 2027 to resolve the carrier’s financial and operational challenges and avoid the threat of court-ordered liquidation.

Air Calédonie CEO Daniel Houmbouy told Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes that the court had approved the extension at a hearing on October 8. He noted that the airline’s primary shareholder, ADANC (Agence de Développement Aérien de Nouvelle-Calédonie), had supported the extension.

“(The extra time) should allow us to finalise the company’s recovery plan and consolidate our operations,” he said.

Air Calédonie filed for court-supervised restructuring (redressement judiciaire) in mid-April. At the time, it was losing around USD100,000 per day after protesters began blockading four outer-island airports in early March.

Air Calédonie board member Samuel Hnepeune said at the time that the state-owned carrier had little room to manoeuvre. “Our cash flow risks being completely depleted,” he said.

The court-appointed administration process was designed to freeze the airline’s historical debts, allow it to continue operating and formalise a viable recovery plan to avoid liquidation.

According to the administrator (mandataire judiciaire), Virginie Pesselet of Nouméa law firm SELARL MJP, the airline’s affairs must now be in order by April 14, 2027. The deadline for creditors to file claims has expired.

Air Calédonie reasonably upbeat about airline's future

When Air Calédonie had its debt repayment obligations suspended in April, it had short-term liabilities, including payroll obligations, of around USD2.5 million and two outstanding bank loans totalling approximately USD26.6 million.

Of the four airports blockaded in March, flights to Île des Pins (ILP) resumed within a month, followed by services to Lifou Island (LIF) in early June. Limited flights to Ouvéa Island (UVE) resumed in September, while services to Maré (La Roche) (MEE) remained suspended. However, Air Oceania is permitted to land at Maré and operates services there from the capital.

Protesters are objecting to a New Caledonian Government decision to move Air Calédonie’s Nouméa hub from Magenta Airport (GEA) to La Tontouta Airport (NOU).

However, Houmbouy said business was good on the three domestic routes Air Calédonie was currently operating. He described the market as “encouraging” and demand as “sustained”.

Air Calédonie also flies from Nouméa La Tontouta to Port Vila (VLI). Those services were unaffected by the airport blockades.

Aircalin faces further disruption

Meanwhile, New Caledonia’s other state-owned carrier, Aircalin, experienced another round of service disruptions earlier this week. The airline’s two A330-900s, which operate its flagship Paris (CDG) services, have continued to prove unreliable, causing cancellations and delays.

Most recently, unspecified “technical issues” delayed the October 11 Nouméa – Bangkok – Paris flight by around 24 hours, with flow on effects for the return service.

French consumer group Que Choisir is calling for an independent investigation into the ongoing issues with the A330s, saying the repeated incidents far exceed what can reasonably be accepted from an airline.

“If Aircalin were subject to competition, there is no doubt that the loss of confidence caused by these cancellations and delays would probably lead to the company filing for bankruptcy,” Que Choisir President Gilles Vernier told Milakulo Tukumuli, President of the Government of New Caledonia, in a letter dated 13 October 2026

Vernier argued that having a single airline operating between New Caledonia and France that relies on “an insufficient number of aircraft”, was not in passengers’ best interests.

Aircalin is expecting a third long-haul aircraft, the first of two A350-900s, towards the end of this year. The airline also uses wet-leased aircraft when required. Most recently, it operated a wet-leased Wamos Air A330-300 for several weeks in August and September.

Photo: Air Calédonie.
Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com