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Haiti receives first commercial flight since quake
The first passenger plane to arrive in Haiti since the January 12 earthquake touched down in Port-au-Prince to a warm Caribbean welcome on Friday.
The first passenger plane to arrive in Haiti since the January 12 earthquake touched down in Port-au-Prince to a warm Caribbean welcome on Friday.
The American Airlines flight from Miami came to a stop at the terminal with 132 passengers onboard and with one of the pilots waving a Haitian flag from the cockpit window.
Passengers were greeted by a band playing Creole music at the partially damaged airport, which has been a lifeline for the devastated country in the wake of the January 12 earthquake that killed over 217,000 people and left over a million homeless.
"It's good for the reconstruction of Haiti," said American Airlines spokesperson Martha Pantin. "We were the last ones out; we are the first ones in."
Since the earthquake the country's largest commercial airport has resembled a military base, with over a hundred armed forces and UN flights passing through each day.
