Lifestyle
Grand Case: the north-coast village with the French side's airport
Grand Case is a village on the north coast of Saint-Martin and home to Grand Case–Espérance airport, run by EDEIS for the Collectivité since 1 April 2011. Its bathing water was rated "good" for 2025.
By SXM Daily ·
Grand Case is a village on the north coast of Saint-Martin, the French side of the island. It is also where you will find Grand Case–Espérance airport, which EDEIS has run for the Collectivité de Saint-Martin since 1 April 2011.
Photo: Paul Sableman / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
The airport in Grand Case
Grand Case–Espérance airport is in Grand Case. The Collectivité de Saint-Martin does not run it directly: it granted EDEIS a public-service delegation (délégation de service public) to manage and operate it.
According to EDEIS, the delegation is for 25 years and started on 1 April 2011. The Collectivité's own records back this up: a decision of its executive council, CE 195-09-2022 of 26 January 2022, confirms that EDEIS operates the airport under that delegation.
Bathing water rated "good" for 2025
For swimmers, there is an official water-quality rating. ARS Guadeloupe, the regional health agency (Agence régionale de santé), rated the Grand Case bathing site "good" for 2025.
The other monitored bathing sites on the French side were rated "excellent" or were not rated, according to Soualiga Post's report on the ARS results. So Grand Case's "good" sits below the "excellent" rating that other French-side sites received.
Why it matters
If you live on the French side or are flying in through Grand Case, it helps to know who is responsible for the airport: EDEIS runs it, under a delegation granted by the Collectivité. If you are choosing where to swim, the 2025 ARS rating gives you an official reference point for the water at Grand Case.
Sources
- https://www.edeis.com/expertises/aeroports/
- https://www.com-saint-martin.fr/deliberations_actes/deliberations/delib_202201_ce_du_26_janvier_2022_ce_195092022
- https://www.guadeloupe.ars.sante.fr/la-qualite-de-leau-en-guadeloupe-bilan-du-controle-sanitaire-2025
- https://www.soualigapost.com/fr/actualite/52595/sant%C3%A9/10-plages-pr%C3%A9sentent-une-eau-de-baignade-dexcellente-qualit%C3%A9