THE BATTLE FOR THE SKY
By frantz bataille former director of Le Petit Samedi Soir
By frantz bataille former director of Le Petit Samedi Soir
T
|
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.
B
|
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.
