Agreement Signed Between Government and Sunrise Airways: Opinions Are Divided

After several months of suspension, Sunrise Airways is resuming its domestic flights starting this June 12, thanks to a memorandum of understanding signed with the Haitian government.

Since its signing, this agreement, comprising more than four articles, has raised numerous questions regarding its content and its benefits for the Haitian state as well as for the population in particular.

In its first article, the agreement stipulates: the Haitian state, exercising its prerogatives of public authority, requests the national company SUNRISE AIRWAYS to gradually resume its regular commercial flights at Toussaint Louverture International Airport. According to article 2 of the said agreement, the company agrees to respond favorably to the request of the public authority.

While this resumption aims to offer an alternative to routes controlled by gangs, it is already generating strong controversy due to the spectacular increase in fares: 215 dollars for a one-way trip between Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haïtien, and 240 dollars for Cap-Haïtien–Les Cayes.

Reacting to this decision by the Haitian state, economist Enomy Germain sees a capture of the Haitian state by the private sector. «Up to 11 million US dollars to encourage Sunrise to resume its internal flights. POLITIK TÈT CHAT, but intentional. This is proof that the private sector is in power, at the Primature as well as at the CPT», wrote Mr. Germain on his X account after the signing of the agreement.

It's like subsidizing a monopoly. However, subsidizing a monopoly means making the population pay twice: once through high and often unjustified prices, and a second time through their taxes, he continued.

For him, this support resolves neither insecurity nor precarity. It strengthens the dominant position of a single operator, to the detriment of consumers and competition.

Met at Guy Malary airport, several travelers welcomed the decision to resume inter-city flights. While regretting the exorbitant ticket price, these passengers believe that it at least opens up an access route between the departments.

« We needed to travel and go see my family in the south. The national roads are all blocked by bandits. It is, therefore, up to the State to assume its responsibilities to allow citizens to have a vital minimum, which is the right to circulate », argue Mike and Sherly, exchanging among others on the tarmac.

Gedeon Delva