8717: RE: 8676: Re: Airline (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Joel Dreyfuss <jdreyfuss@attglobal.net>

Starting an airline is a pipe dream. A lot of countries lose money on flag
airlines but keep them going for prestige.  Even those who have been running
them for decades (American, United, Delta) have trouble keeping them in the
black. The problem with flights to and from Haiti is the American Airlines
monopoly--which leaves Haiti at the mercy of an airline not know for service
to begin with -- and with no incentive to do better.
The real solution would be to put the routes up for bid or to add at least
one more airline to the JFK-PAP route. I suspect politics (and money) has a
lot to do with why there isn;t competition on that route.

By the way, thanks to all for the suggestion about alternative flights TO
Haiti, but I'm trying to book a flight OUT of Haiti to New York for an
elderly relative who can't do the Panama-Miami-New York route easily -- or
any flight involving multiple transfers.