Bahamasair has a new destination: Haiti.

The carrier made its inaugural flight to Port-au-Prince this week as it touched down at Toussaint Louverture International Airport.

The ATR-42, 50-seat turboprop aircraft – one of the carrier’s newest fleet acquired in 2015 – provides non-stop service into Port-au-Prince two days per week.

Bahamasair Chairman Valentine Grimes, head of the delegation to Haiti, called it an “important” day in the history of Bahamasair.

“We are indeed happy that this flight has been inaugurated and we are here for the long haul,” he said. “We think that the flights will be profitable both for Haiti and the Bahamas.”

“We’re very excited about the move,” said Bahamasair Acting Managing Director, Tracy Cooper Cooper. “It is the only direct flight between The Bahamas and Port-au-Prince. We expect it to be not just beneficial to The Bahamas, but also to the people of Haiti.”

“We expect to grow this flight from an ATR eventually to a jet,” said Woody Wilson, Bahamasair Senior Manager for Marketing. “There is a lot of culture in Haiti and we have Bahamians travelling back and forth as tourists and vice versa. We expect to have the Haitian population travelling to The Bahamas as tourists. We expect this to be a great revenue generator for us.”

In Haiti, Bahamasair has signed a GSA agreement with SORA to sell its tickets from Port-au-Prince to Nassau through the Haiti travel agencies network.

Bahamasair is also partnering with Agence Citadelle for airport shuttle and land packages.

“Traditionally the longest flight flown before was to Orlando,” Wilson said. “We’ve also flown to Cuba, but this will be our longest flight.”

— Dana Niland, CJ Contributor