PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Wednesday August 22, 2018 – American Airlines (AA) is cutting direct flights to Haiti’s capital from November, while Delta Airlines has announced it will begin a weekly flight the following month.

AA said yesterday that from November 3, it will reduce the number of daily flights from six to four. The two that have been cut are services from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport.

But it will continue to operate three daily flights connecting Port-au-Prince to Miami International Airport. It will also continue to serve Cap-Haïtien, Haiti’s second largest city, with a daily flight from Miami.

“It was a painful but necessary decision, given the economic circumstances, particularly in an environment where the cost of fuel is high,” American said in a letter to Renet Prévilon, Director of Customs at Toussaint Louverture International Airport yesterday.

Peter Vittori, American’s managing director of sales for Florida, the Caribbean and Latin America, said the cuts, which are among several reductions, “makes for much more viable economics”.

However, Guy Francois, minister of Haitians Living Abroad, the government ministry dedicated to the diaspora, said the move was “a big loss” for Haiti.

At the same time, the country has welcomed news of an additional Delta Air Lines flight from JFK on Saturdays, starting December 22.

Delta will also start a Saturday flight to Antigua beginning on the same date, and daily non-stop flights between JFK and Kingston, Jamaica from December 20. It is also expanding its service to the Bahamas with a second daily flight between JFK and Nassau, starting October 1.