A day after canceling flights to Haiti, U.S.-based carrier JetBlue says it will now resume flights into Port-au-Prince beginning Friday.
JetBlue spokesman Derek Dombrowski said the decision was taken after “a clarification of requirements” by the Haitian government.
Haiti’s Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe had announced that effective Tuesday, the country’s land border with the neighboring Dominican Republic would be closed, and all flights from Europe, Canada, the Dominican Republic and Latin America would be suspended in order to protect the country from the coronavirus. Only flights from the United States would be allowed, Jouthe said, but incoming U.S. passengers would need to show medical proof that they had tested negative for the coronavirus, which causes the respiratory COVID-19 disease.
On Tuesday, the Miami Herald reported that JetBlue had canceled its daily flights into Port-au-Prince out of Fort Lauderdale and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, as well as from Orlando and Boston certain days of the week. Sources cited the government’s medical clearance requirement for Haiti-bound passengers, which is almost impossible to obtain unless someone is hospitalized or has been in contact with an infected person.
The airline did not specify what the clarification was. Haiti’s government also hasn’t responded to the Herald’s inquiry about whether it is no longer seeking the documentation. Continue reading