Overview:
Sunrise Airways will start flying from Cap-Haitien and Port-au-Prince to Miami in mid-September.
CAP-HAITIEN — A travel dilemma many Haitians have shared for years – ‘only Spirit travels from Cap-Haitien to the USA’ – could also be alleviated as early as next month when Sunrise Airways begins a new flight service.
Sunrise announced Tuesday that it is going to offer Port-au-Prince to Miami legs as of Sept. 15 and Cap-Haitien to Miami flights starting Sept. 26. The Caribbean airline based in Port-au-Prince, founded in 2010, will operate in Florida after a five 12 months hiatus. It currently flies passengers around Haiti, Panama, Guadeloupe, Cuba and Dominican Republic.
“Ready, set, Miami!,” Sunrise Airways wrote on a Facebook post on Aug. 15.
Haitians have long complained about having Spirit because the only alternative for flights from Cap-Haitien to the U.S. and back, particularly because they said Spirit’s tickets have grow to be pricier than usual.
“Finally, people from Okap will catch their breaths from the value of Spirit’s tickets,” Ruth Compere of Cap-Haitien, commented on Facebook. “Now we’ve a couple of alternative [sic], I’m completely happy.”
A Cap-Haitien to Fort Lauderdale ticket on Spirit currently costs about $1,500. Some Haitians fear that Sunrise Airways tickets may even be expensive.
“Now how much will those tickets cost?” Gaelle Bazile commented on Facebook.
Sunrise Airways currently goes from Les Cayes to Port-au-Prince, at a price of about $130. A price Haitians have been lamenting about since they wouldn’t have U.S. dollars and it is simply a 30-minute flight.
It’s unclear when booking for the Miami flights can be available. Here’s a tentative scheduled announced:
- Cap-Haitien to Miami flights on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
- Port-au-Prince to Miami on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
Each flights can be in an Airbus A320, a narrow-body aircraft. Sunrise Airways previously operated in Miami and Orlando in 2017 and 2018, in response to Aviacionline.
