Helping Haiti by Laura Jackson

Each time I sat down to write about air service this week, my thoughts immediately turned to Haiti. I had not studied Haiti’s air service in detail previously, so it seemed appropriate to do a little research. Following is a summary of scheduled commercial air service for December 2009, before the devastating earthquake on January 12, 2010.
Toussaint L’Ouverture International Airport (PAP) in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince is temporarily under control of the United States Air Force. Prior to the earthquake, PAP was the busiest airport in Haiti, accounting for 90 percent of scheduled commercial flights and 99 percent of scheduled commercial seats (capacity). Twelve airlines provided nonstop service to 13 destinations in the Caribbean, Central America, the U.S.A., Canada and Europe. On average, Toussaint L’Ouverture handled 13 daily flight arrivals (scheduled commercial flights). Today, approximately 150 aircraft are arriving every day with relief supplies, with a waiting list of nearly 1,500 flights that have requested permission to fly to PAP.
Cap-Haitien International Airport (CAP) is the only other Haitian airport to handle scheduled commercial flights. Approximately 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of the capital, CAP continues to handle scheduled air service. Flights are operated on eight-seat Cessnas by Florida Coastal Airlines to Ft. Lauderdale, and on 16-seat Embraer 110 Bandeirantes by SkyKing Airlines to Providenciales (Turks & Caicos).
Three additional Haitian airports are included in the OAG database, but they have not had scheduled air service within the past two years.
For frequent travelers, airlines and hotels have set up various methods of donating accrued frequent travel/hotel stay miles, or will give you bonus points if you donate cash to certain relief agencies. Helping Haiti begin the path of recovery is just a click away.
Haiti will remain in my thoughts as I travel to Las Vegas this week. My first-ever trip to Sin City – look for a report next week!

Source: Official Airline Guide (OAG) Schedule Tapes for December 2009 only, unless otherwise noted; news reports; Bloomberg;