Overview:
Haitians at house and overseas criticized Dawn Airways for charging excessive native fares regardless of a reported $11 million state-backed insurance coverage fund. The corporate’s president, Philippe Bayard, acknowledged in an interview with The Haitian Occasions that the airline doesn’t have entry to these funds, which serve solely as a contingency within the occasion of a disaster.
CAP-HAITIEN — Going through widespread criticism for sky-high ticket costs after resuming its home flights final week, Sunrise Airways President Philippe Bayard stated his airline doesn’t instantly profit from the $11 million insurance coverage fund supplied by the Haitian authorities. The cash, he defined, acts solely as a safety assure to cowl attainable casualties, not as a subsidy to scale back working prices.
“We’re not getting a penny from it,” Bayard stated. “That is cash we’ll by no means see. By no means.”
“It’s defending us from, God forbid, eventual casualties. This isn’t cash they gave to us [to help cover the cost of operations],” Bayard instructed The Haitian Occasions in an interview.
As of Monday, a one-way ticket from Cap-Haïtien to Port-au-Prince was priced from $215 to $225, whereas an airfare from Cap-Haïtien to Les Cayes ranged from $220 to $240. These costs have sparked outrage on social media and throughout the diaspora, particularly with the flights being brief journeys—roughly 50 minutes and one hour respectively.
Haitians have at all times been cautious of trusting authorities officers and the personal sector due to their lengthy historical past of corruption, embezzlement and public abuse.
“We’re not getting a penny from it. That is cash we’ll by no means see. By no means. It’s defending us from, God forbid, eventual casualties.”
Philippe Bayard
Many critics assumed that Dawn, with entry to state-backed insurance coverage, was overcharging clients. However Bayard stated the other is true: the airline’s insurance coverage premiums for his or her plane have tripled attributable to gang violence, so the state’s insurance coverage fund helps lighten these prices. Dawn additionally has to bear the upper value of working flights with out utilizing the capital’s foremost airport.
Compounding the problem is the restricted capability of Dawn’s plane, which carry a most of 30 passengers per journey. But, the corporate’s president didn’t clarify why he couldn’t purchase bigger planes to answer rising home air journey calls for.
“The worth relies on the variety of seats,” Bayard stated. “We’ve tried to rethink the fares—belief me. However we are able to’t scale back costs till situations normalize. Since 2018, we’ve handled lockdowns, the COVID-19 Pandemic, political turmoil—and now they’re capturing at airplanes.”
Dawn resumed native flights on June 12 after the Haitian authorities provided an insurance coverage assure to assist the airline restore operations. Bayard stated the state approached him two months in the past to request the resumption of home service, and he knowledgeable them he couldn’t fly beneath his present insurance coverage coverage. The fee for insurance coverage spiked after gang members shot at airplanes on the Toussaint Louverture Worldwide Airport in Port-au-Prince in March and November 2024. The $11 million assure was the answer.
Although Dawn is Haiti’s solely airline at the moment providing home flights, Bayard says he’s dedicated to persevering with operations—even when the general public response has been discouraging.
“I’m completely satisfied as a result of I’m making an necessary contribution in Haiti,” he stated. “Air journey is important for a rustic’s economic system, so we have to hold going. However it’s deceiving—individuals take pictures at us, like they’re not grateful for what we do.”