Flying in and out of Port-au-Prince on a major U.S. carrier will once more have to wait.
American Airlines and JetBlue Airways are again delaying the resumption of their daily service from the United States into Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Haiti’s gang-ridden capital. Now, one carrier is looking at the end of the month, the other after June. Both return dates would have U.S. flights out of Miami and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood return to the country after the arrival of the first deployment of Kenyan police as part of a multinational force to help Haiti cops battle gangs.
“The safety and security of our customers and crew members is our top priority. As a result of the recent civil unrest in Haiti, we have canceled operations through Tuesday, June 4,” JetBlue spokesman Derek Dombrowski said. “We continue to monitor the situation and are working closely with the U.S. embassy and our team in Haiti to determine next steps.”
U.S. officials involved in the deployment of the multinational security mission have declined to provide a specific date for the police officers’ arrival —or say how large the initial group will be, citing security concerns. Preparations, however, are under way to have the first foreign cops arrive in Port-au-Prince to help Haiti’s security forces.
the arrival of the first contingent of Kenyan police officers — the backbone of the Multinational Security Support mission — is scheduled to coincide with the May 23 state visit to Washington by Kenya President William Ruto and his wife, Rachel Ruto. The couple is being hosted by President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, who is in Nairobi attending the U.N. Civil Society Conference, saluted Kenya’s leadership on Haiti, telling Ruto the help “is so desperately needed.”
“I am particularly grateful to Kenya for agreeing to lead international efforts to quell the violence in Haiti,” he later said at the opening of a press conference.
This week some of the people involved in the deployment, including a security official from Jamaica, which is in charge of the Caribbean contingent, attended discussions in Washington, D.C. about the first phase. Meanwhile, the Doral-based U.S. Southern Command has been coordinating U.S. military flights into Haiti. As many as three flights a day have been arriving in Port-au-Prince with supplies, equipment and civilian personnel to help build a base for the foreign forces.
The Biden administration has pledged $300 million toward the security effort, though officials continue to face money constraints. Republican lawmakers in Congress, who have raised questions about the mission, are blocking $40 million of the $100 million the State Department has pledged. The other $200 million is from the Defense Department and includes in-kind support for the operations.
In an opinion column in the Miami Herald this week,James B. Foley, a former U.S. ambassador to Haiti, sounded the alarm over the blocking of the money, noting that while he respects the right of Congress to demand accountability, “the fact is that situations of this kind are fluid and every detail cannot be spelled out in advance.
“This operation is critical to multiple U.S. national security interests and it needs to get off the ground before it is too late. Moreover, other donors potentially willing to help underwrite the mission are sitting on the fence, waiting to see if the U.S. is serious or not. That is indeed the critical unanswered question, the key to which lies in Republican hands.”
Neither Dombrowski of JetBlue nor American Airlines spokeswoman Laura Masvidal cited the ongoing plans to deploy troops as the reason for their company’s delay in return to Haiti. However, the new schedule for both airlines will have services return after the Kenyan cops arrive.
Masvidal says flights from Miami International Airport into Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince are now scheduled to start on May 30th. They were previously supposed to start on May 16 after being pushed back from May 9.
Earlier this week, Dania Beach-based Spirit Airlines, which announced a resumption of flights for Friday, May 10, from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International into Cap-Haïtien, said its Port-au-Prince flights remain suspended until further notice. JetBlue, which connects Port-au-Prince to both John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, previously announced It would resume its services on May 15.
“For the latest fee waivers and to check flight status, customers should go to jetblue.com. If customers want to change destinations, they can cancel and use the fare for other flights,” Dombrowski said.
Haiti’s main international airport, domestic airport and government seaport have been shut down for the past two months after armed gangs launched a broad assault against the government and key infrastructure. At least three planes leased by the country’s national carrier, Sunrise Airways, were struck by bullets during one of the attacks, forcing the suspension of in-country flights in and out of Port-au-Prince.
The ongoing closure of the facilities have been costly for Haiti, which has one of the highest government taxes on airline tickets in the region and charges $10 for every passenger without a Haitian passport or proof they were born in the country.
In hopes of resuming flights, the government has demolished hundreds of homes around the airport to remove gangs’ ability to use rooftops to fire at planes.
The govermment has also built several security towers around the airport and continues to have police officers and members of the army patrol both inside and out to prevent any security breaches.
