No US airline has flown Haitian families home from Miami since November 2024. On Nov. 1, American Airlines ended that gap, and its first flight carried an all-Haitian, Creole-speaking crew.
The airline now flies daily from Miami to Cap-Haïtien, in northern Haiti, on a Boeing 737. The plane leaves Miami at 10:15 a.m. and lands at 12:15 p.m.; the return leaves at 1:15 p.m. American says the route is meant to serve the large Haitian diaspora in South Florida, easing travel for families, business travelers and visitors. It is American’s 100th destination in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The flights stopped after Nov. 11, 2024, when American, JetBlue and Spirit all had aircraft hit by bullets fired from the ground near Port-au-Prince. The US embassy cited “gang-led efforts to block travel to and from Port-au-Prince.” For Haitians in the United States, a Black immigrant community with deep family ties across the border, that closed the direct route for nearly two years.
The return does not reach the capital. Port-au-Prince is served only by the Haitian carrier Sunrise Airways, and the US government still advises Americans to avoid all travel to Haiti because of security concerns, as CBC reported. Cap-Haïtien is a way in, not proof the danger has passed.
Haiti’s government welcomed the news. Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, speaking in Boston where Haiti was playing its opening World Cup match, highlighted the advocacy behind the airline’s return, Le Nouvelliste reported.
Credit goes to the airline for putting Haitian crew on the inaugural run. But one daily flight to the north is a small part of what was lost, and it comes from a Washington that has offered Haitians little else. The test is Port-au-Prince: until American or another US carrier commits to the capital, families here can get to the edge of home and no closer.
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