Haitian Airline Banned from Flying to Turks and Caicos

Haitian-based airline Sunrise Airlines has been ordered to stop operations to the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI). According to a spokesperson for the TCI Civil Aviation Authority (TCICAA), the agency has determined that its counterpart in Haiti is inadequate to monitor the safety standards of Sunrise or any other Haitian carrier.

The spokesperson said this was not the responsibility of Sunrise but of the Haitian government.

The TCICAA spokesperson said that the Haitian authorities could remedy the situation, allowing flights to resume. No details were provided on how the investigation was conducted to determine the Haitian shortcomings and no indication of what the difficulties were.

The only airline now serving Haiti from the TCI is Inter Caribbean Airlines, which is owned by Lyndon Gardiner, a nephew of disgraced former premier Michael Misick.

The TCICAA authority spokesperson went on to comment that the banning of Sunrise Airlines will eliminate competition and prices will rise. It was immediately learned that Inter Caribbean prices returned to $400 per round trip, which is nearly double the cost of the Sunrise tickets.

The remarks by the TCICAA are now the focus of Provo residents who believe this is a politically motivated decision.

During the Misick administration huge subsidies were paid the Gardiner-owned airline to land in Middle, North and South Caicos and ticket prices also escalated.

The move by the TCICAA has angered Haitians living in the TCI who are now calling on the Haitian civil aviation authorities to disqualify the TCICAA, which would halt Inter Caribbean from landing in Haiti. However, many are saying that the Haitian consulate in the TCI is so weak it will not interfere with the aviation issues that have halted their citizens’, Sunrise Airlines, business.

Last year, the TCI government led by Misick's Progressive National Party, which includes Misick’s brother, another nephew and niece as ministers, repatriated some 1,000 illegal migrants to Haiti by air. To detain the intercepted migrants for two or three days and fly them home cost the TCI a reported $1.1 million.

Source: Caribbean News Now