Overview:
Antoine Simon Worldwide Airport in Les Cayes is now licensed by the U.S. Transportation Safety Administration as a Final Level of Departure, enabling direct flights to Florida. The transfer expands Haiti’s air journey choices whereas Port-au-Prince stays reduce off from U.S. carriers attributable to a gang-fueled safety disaster.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Antoine Simon Worldwide Airport in Les Cayes has been licensed by the US Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) as a Final Level of Departure (LPD), clearing the best way for industrial carriers, notably IBC Airways, to fly immediately from Les Cayes to Florida with out stopovers.
The Nationwide Workplace of Civil Aviation (OFNAC) introduced the designation on Wednesday, Dec. 3, calling it an vital step for Haiti’s civil aviation sector and for enhancing entry to the nation’s southern area.
“This designation is a vital development,” OFNAC stated in a note posted on its social media account, congratulating the groups concerned. The company stated the brand new standing will strengthen air connectivity and help improvement within the Nice South, the place journey by highway has grow to be more and more harmful attributable to gang exercise.
The certification comes lower than a month after IBC Airways launched its first industrial flight between Miami and Les Cayes on Nov. 10. The inaugural journey adopted months of airport upgrades and planning. Officers say the brand new route represents progress not just for Les Cayes however for the broader area, which has struggled with isolation as insecurity intensifies round Port-au-Prince.
Earlier than the TSA authorization, passengers flying from Les Cayes to the U.S. needed to take an extended route with a visit an LPD-certified airport in one other Caribbean nation. For instance, all IBC Airways flights used to cease in Jamaica earlier than arriving in Miami.
A uncommon growth of Haiti–U.S. air hyperlinks as security issues stay
The LPD designation arrives at a time when Haiti’s air site visitors stays severely restricted. Since early 2024, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has barred American carriers from flying to or from Toussaint Louverture Worldwide Airport due to deteriorating safety situations within the capital.
That ban—prolonged once more till March 26, 2026—has blocked the return of JetBlue, Spirit Airways and American Airways. It has additionally considerably disrupted journey for the Haitian diaspora, which depends on direct industrial flights to see household, conduct enterprise and ship emergency assist.
The restrictions observe a number of safety incidents close to the Port-au-Prince airport, together with episodes through which plane belonging to JetBlue and American Airways had been struck by projectiles whereas passengers had been on board. Though the airport has since reopened and authorities have introduced new safety measures, industrial flights haven’t resumed.
With greater than 90% of the capital now managed by armed teams, key nationwide roads are impassable and journey between areas usually requires both paying gangs at checkpoints or risking assaults by sea. In consequence, air journey—particularly regional flights—has grow to be the first technique of mobility inside Haiti.
Even home air hyperlinks stay fragile. Final week, Dawn Airways introduced the suspension of its flights to and from Port-au-Prince after one among its plane wings was struck by a bullet. The corporate, which receives an $11 million insurance coverage subsidy from the Haitian authorities, stated it won’t resume operations till situations are secure.
“Nobody can say what the supposed goal was,” a Dawn communications advisor instructed The Haitian Instances. “For Dawn, the precedence stays the protection of passengers, workers and plane. No dangers will likely be taken till situations are absolutely met to function safely.”
OFNAC stated operations in Port-au-Prince proceed usually and that safety measures have been bolstered. Nonetheless, Dawn’s flights stay suspended.
A cautious step ahead for Haiti’s south
Towards this backdrop, the TSA certification provides southern Haiti another hyperlink to the US at a time when Port-au-Prince—historically the nation’s gateway—is reduce off from U.S. carriers. It additionally gives the diaspora, significantly these with ties to the Nice South, another choice for reaching relations throughout a interval of extraordinary uncertainty.
However the broader aviation outlook for Haiti stays bleak. No official can say when common industrial flights will resume at Toussaint Louverture Worldwide Airport, and armed teams proceed to occupy areas across the capital’s airport.
For now, the Les Cayes designation stands out as one of many few concrete enhancements in Haiti’s strained aviation community.