Damesara eyes a return of Canada–Haiti flights and a boost in business
Jean Numa Goudou ·
Total bilateral merchandise trade reached only $106.2 million, comprising $65.8 million in Canadian exports to Haiti and $40.4 million in imports from Haiti.
Groupe Damesara launches a "reverse trade mission" in Haiti with the goal of bringing about twenty "madan sara" to Canada to purchase products. In doing so, the company hopes to trigger the resumption of air travel between the two countries and expand bilateral trade.
Since September 2025, Air Transat, the only Canadian carrier serving Haiti, had suspended its flights to Port-au-Prince due to the security situation.
Air travel had not resumed since, with all the resulting consequences for commerce and the mobility of the Haitian community. Due to these constraints, business between the two countries had suffered.
According to Global Affairs Canada, in 2025, total bilateral merchandise trade reached only $106.2 million, comprising $65.8 million in Canadian exports to Haiti and $40.4 million in imports from Haiti.
The Tariff War and Haiti
Three weeks ago, Transport Canada, which had withdrawn authorization for flights to Haiti, reinstated it. This opens the door to an economic revival between the two countries.
"The reason we decided to launch this is that we can see Canada is looking for new partners everywhere, with the tariff war," notes Isaac Bosquet, CEO of Damesara. "We're talking about Canada looking toward Asia, Europe, everywhere — but in the Caribbean, there's Haiti."
But to begin, the air link must be restored. That is why Isaac Bosquet is gauging Haitians' interest in this regard. A week ago, he launched an expression of interest for a test flight scheduled for November 11 to Cap-Haïtien.
"We're doing a profitability calculation, to see if there is genuine interest in having people board the outbound flight, and in having people come from Haiti to Canada," Mr. Bosquet said in an interview with In Texto and Radio Nou.
The project currently needs 189 passengers departing from Montreal to be viable. "We can bring back only mangoes, even if I have no return passengers. We can simply fill the plane with mangoes. It's a cargo flight, like Amerijet's," he said. Damesara is currently in discussions with Haitian operator Sunrise Airways, among others, to carry out its plan.
The Mangoes
"The flight won't be everything," Isaac Bosquet emphasizes, "for example, there are mangoes." For several years, the United States has no longer been receiving mangoes — the Francisque mango — and the Canadian market was sourcing mangoes from the U.S. Furthermore, with the suspension of Air Transat flights, they are no longer available.
"To get them here quickly, there aren't 10,000 ways to do it: you need air transport. Let's just look at this one segment — the mango sector. The United States, which was a major player, has shut off the tap. Canada could receive them, but there are no flights, and the tap is closed. There are entrepreneurs in Haiti, families who depended on these sectors. It's a sector that has just disappeared," Mr. Bosquet laments.
Summary
Resumption of flights.
- Transport Canada authorized flights to Cap-Haïtien approximately three weeks ago.
- Sunrise Airways submitted a price for a charter flight of approximately 189 seats, planned for around November 10 or 11; community interest is currently being assessed.
- Exclusive: an unnamed operator is expected to launch regular flights around November 22.
- If the flight is not full, the remaining capacity would be used for cargo (mixed flight).
Commercial issues.
- Canada–Haiti trade amounts to only approximately $150M per year, for a Haitian market estimated at $5B.
- The Francisque mango supply chain is blocked: no more access to the United States and no more flights to Canada since Air Transat's suspension.
- Les Cayes airport cannot accommodate Boeing 737s; in Port-au-Prince, insecurity around the airport persists.
- The Canadian market is little known among Haitian entrepreneurs; the Association des industries d'Haïti's 2026–2050 industrialization plan does not mention it.
Humanitarian component.
Failed Haitian asylum seekers, without status or work permits, want to return home but cannot transit through a third country; a direct flight would help them. A solution via Jamaica, obtained by connecting the Haitian and Jamaican consuls, has worked; a list is being prepared. Coming up: a major meeting on Friday on Haiti–Canada trade.