The Breton airline Celeste, founded in 2021 to provide a connection between Brest and Paris-Orly, announced on Wednesday its placement in receivership even before having made its first commercial flight.
The Brest commercial court decided to open a judicial recovery procedure on Tuesday, according to a press release from the company, which ensures “to continue the work in progress with its financial and commercial partners, aiming to quickly obtain of the operating license and the launch of the company’s operations. “With a first plane and a team, the Celeste company still has an operational air transport tool ready to be deployed,” she added.
At the end of March, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) estimated that the company had not raised enough funding to be authorized to launch its activities. Celeste was missing “between 30 and 40%” of the acceptable initial financing threshold, according to the DGAC. The company was, however, widely supported by local authorities, with repayable advances voted by the urban community of Morlaix (1.5 million euros) and Brest Métropole (500,000 euros), while the Brittany region had promised 1 million euros and the department of Finistère 500,000 euros.
Celeste, which initially aimed to take over the Brest-Orly connection successively abandoned by Air France, Transavia and Chalair, is now focused on a Brest-Nice after losing its airport slots at Orly due to failure to use them last summer, according to the DGAC. The Brest-Nice connection is already operated by the low-cost airline Volotea, with two flights per week, while Air France provides up to 28 flights per week to Paris-Roissy.
Supported by the Western Brittany Chamber of Commerce and Metropolitan Industry (CCIMBO), Celeste claims the support of around sixty Breton companies. According to the calculator from the Ecological Transition Agency (Ademe), a Brest-Nice journey emits 4.6 kg of CO2 per person by TGV, compared to 196 kg of CO2 by medium-haul plane.
