Haitian airline Tortug'Air seeks to launch its first flights to the United States, with daily service to Fort Lauderdale, under a wet lease agreement with Cemair, an aircraft operator and leasing company based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The rental contract is necessary because the United States classifies Haiti as a country of "Category 2", which means that the United States has not certified that the Government of Haiti exercising effective supervision, over the safety of its airlines.

As a result, Haitian airlines can not add services to the United States except by leasing planes and crews of an airline of one country classified "first class". South Africa qualified for this category.

Tortug'Air is currently prohibited from operating in the U.S., due to the failure of the Haitian Civil Aviation Authority to meet international safety standards of the FAA, asked the U.S. Department of the Transportation (DOT) to allow CemAir to operate an aircraft with 50 seats CRJ100 (CL-600-2B19) of the Canadian company Bombardier on this new road.

The road Fort Lauderdale - Port-au-Prince, is currently served by American Airlines and Spirit Airlines, according to data from OAG Analyzer.

In its request Tortug'Air argues that it is in the public interest for the United States to approve the new route to honor its commitment to support economic development in Haiti and stressed the number of persons employed by the airline.

Since the launch of its operations in 2004 with services towards major cities in Haiti, the private company Tortug'Air has extended its activities to provide regulars international services to Nassau, Santo Domingo, Aruba, and in Providenciales and Turk and Caicos Islands.

HL/ HaitiLibre