AIRLINE HAITI ..THE SKY BATTLE

UNDER A SKY ALREADY BLUE...

THE BATTLE FOR THE SKY
By frantz bataille former director of Le Petit Samedi Soir

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here are neither army planes rumbling on Port-au Prince, the Haitian capital, nor parachutists ready to land somewhere in this Caribbean city, but, even in this  still and uneven landscape, Boeings and Turbo-jets from big worldwide airlines tell about what kind of destination Haiti had become over the years: a sunny and warm heaven, bathing at the heart of Mexican gulf.

Mr. D. Needleman
the Brazilian American
entrepreneur

Airlines had fought so much since the mid 60s when Haiti got a niche in the world map. By this time, KLM, AA and very soon Eastern Airlines would take over. Delta, Air France and Pan Am were already history, waiting for better times. Haitians then had been boarding small planes at the military aviation of Bowen Field, before spending time in Jamaica or Porto Rico   and being connected to big aircraft. Now, after some exhausting saga and bad times, AA became the king of the Haitian sky although Air France, Delta and Spirit had managed to have a piece of the cake.

The coming of Jet Blue this week, with its first flight to P-au-P, told us a story of competition and open market. However, regardless of privileges and some policy of kickbacks, jet Blue, as blue as the Haitian sky, some people notice, breathes  a new life, like those migratory birds carry on what is left from the North with its icy weather. As a color, blue is a relaxing shade. Jet Blue merits its reputation of poetry and romantic airliner that it got from the beginning.

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ack to tourism, Haiti is still renowned for its smiling people and moderate weather.” The place is still warming and warm” everybody acknowledges.  Canadians adore the sunny Caribbean, and among its scattered islands Haiti makes the difference, they conclude. A booming market for tourism, Haiti is living a unique momentum in its current renewal process.

This new airline under a sky always blue adds and mixes comfort, elegance and low cost. Provided with large individual seats and a huge leg room, Jet Blue gives access to internet and TV screen where you can choose your chain and movie while cruising at 30.000 feet above the sea. What it’s really new for Haitian customers.  Other airliners offer magazines, food, beverages, wines, snacks and so forth, but, it seems that Jet Blue wants something more than just business. His CEO David Needleman  …once said: Jet Blue looks to bring humanity back to air travel.

Mr Needleman who founded this company in 1999 came from Southwest airlines where he’d learned about low cost flight. Despite ups and downs, especially in February 2007 due to snowstorm and bad weather, Jet Blue kept growing and even bought new planes. Millions dollars vanished in smoke in the first decades of 2000, but optimism and imagination are also tools in open market.  Jet Blue crossed a Red Sea of its own, before beginning to earn more money against  Wall Street expectations. Now, JB is cruising under so many skies from America to Asia that “sun never sets in its lands”

It is this airline of a globalization era that will land that Thursday 5 December 2013 in Haiti.