Tortug' Air


Tortug'Air S.A. was a domestic airline in Haiti, and served as Haiti's national flag carrier. The airline was founded in March 2003, and was based in Port-au-Prince. According to the airline, more than 200 people were employed with the company. Tortug' Air went out of business sometime between mid-March to August, 2015.
Tortug’Air was part of Haiti's transportation infrastructure. Despite the country's small size, the road network is in poor condition. Thus, air transportation takes on an oversized importance for Haiti. Tortug’ Air served that need with its domestic schedule. For example, its 40 minute flight from Port-au-Prince to Jacmel could have been driven instead; but it would take approximately four hours by road.

History

Tortug'Air S.A. was founded in January 2003, and launched its commercial flights on 13 August 2004.
In January 2013, Tortug'Air officially applied for permission to fly in the USA. Haiti being a Category 2 of the International Aviation Safety Assessment Program, its airlines were not permitted to fly US skies, but a wet lease with a Category 1 operator made the request feasible. Tortug'Air first US flights to Fort Lauderdale International Airport started in June 2014.

Destinations

Tortug’ Air served six Haitian and three international destinations. It also had charter permits for most Caribbean islands. Flights to Les Cayes were suspended in early 2012.
Country CityAirportDate startedRefs
HaitiPort-au-PrinceToussaint L'Ouverture International Airport
HaitiJacmelJacmel Airport
HaitiJérémieJérémie Airport
HaitiCap-HaïtienCap-Haitien International Airport
HaitiPort-de-PaixPort-de-Paix Airport
Dominican Republic Santo DomingoLa Isabela International Airport
Bahamas NassauLynden Pindling International Airport
Turks and Caicos Providenciales International Airport
United StatesBroward County, FloridaFort Lauderdale International AirportJune 2014