Connecting the Caribbean

Eco-Conscious Sunrise Airways flies high with a mission to bring together ‘One Caribbean’

In 2009, Philippe Bayard, a Haitian businessman and airplane pilot, envisioned crafting a progressive airline that would connect the vibrant capitals and islands in the Caribbean. His vision of “One Caribbean” came to life roughly three years later as Sunrise Airways launched commercial operations with an unflagging passion for service excellence and customer care.

Based out of Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Antigua, Sunrise Airways continually works to best position itself to connect the region. This is in keeping with the company’s mission to foster and strengthen ties throughout the Caribbean community to better serve its people, cultures, and environment. At present the airline serves 18 airports, from small facilities to large international hubs.

Ever cognizant of the absolute importance that air transport carries as a key driver of economic growth in the region, Sunrise Airways also underpins its corporate ambitions with an earnest commitment to environmental sustainability. According to the firm, their ecological targets for 2025 include “reducing our ecological footprint by focusing on actions that involve reducing single-use items, managing plastic waste used on board and on the ground, and engaging in responsible corporate and sponsorship initiatives.” Sunrise Airways further supports environmental and biodiversity protection through its activities with the Haiti National Trust, Société Audubon Haiti, and other groups.

Claudio Buncamper

Currently, Sunrise Airways is expanding their regional and international footprints. “At present a lot of our focus has centered on enhancing and optimizing our schedule, particularly with an eye toward better connecting our robust network in the Western Caribbean with our newly emerging routes in the Eastern Caribbean,” said Claudio Buncamper, the airline’s Chief Commercial Officer.

A Sint Maarten native, Buncamper is a career aviation professional whose extensive professional experience includes roles ranging from flight dispatch to station management, and from traffic management to directing marketing and sales. He spent 22 years as a VP at Windward Islands Airways (Winair) prior to joining Sunrise this year.

“Over my 22 years serving as a Director at Winair, the airline restructured from bankruptcy, endured the worst hurricane in the Eastern Caribbean in 2017, and Covid from 2020-22. Despite all of this, we were able to manage the airline to profitability,” he said. While his connection to Winair was personal – his dad had also worked for the company – the need for a change inspired his move to Sunrise Airways. “My expertise, combined with Sunrise’s dedicated team and ambition to better connect Caribbean people was a great fit.”

In May 2024, Sunrise launched the largest expansion of its route network to date, adding new intra-regional flights, as well as Haiti-Antigua service, a much-needed connection that had previously not existed. “In Q3 2024, our Eastern Caribbean network will further grow with the addition of new flights to Guadeloupe, Saint Vincent, Grenada, and Barbados,” he reported. In addition, they are considering the potential of launching flights from Haiti to Brazil, Canada, Florida, and other U.S. gateways.

“Looking at our business model, short-term expansion plans, and our motto, ‘We fly to connect people,’ Sunrise will continue to focus on aligning our schedule to best serve our customers, creating new opportunities for them to get from Point A to B within one day, safely and at an affordable cost,” he said.

A hallmark of the Sunrise Airways business model is its high degree of flexibility. This enables the carrier to handle the complex and variable demands of rapid growth across a broad range of international markets.

A roadmap of that growth shows in their fleet history. Sunrise Airways started their first commercial flights in November 2012 between Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien with 19-seat Jetstream 32 twin-propeller planes. Their current fleet boasts a much wider range of models, including several workhorse Embraer models, Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s.

Sunrise has also invested significant capital to keep up with the latest technological demands of its customers, partners, and stakeholders. As we go to press, the airline is upgrading its Passenger Service System (PSS), joining the Hitit Crane Pax System, the third largest PSS system in the world.

“Hitit offers industry-leading capabilities and functionalities toward enhancing every aspect of our customer service, reservations, and handling processes using the very latest state-of-the-art technology,” Buncamper explained. Sunrise also continuously invests in enhancing its social media marketing, web presence, and electronic customer touchpoints.

“Indeed, the industry is a complex and rapidly changing environment, but I must say that our team is very flexible and adaptable to every changing situation,” he pointed out. “As a progressive airline, we pride ourselves on thinking out of the box to find solutions for any challenges we might face.”

One such example involved the recent political instability in Port-au-Prince. During the crisis, the Sunrise Airways team moved quickly to relocate to a temporary home base at another Haitian airport. “This allowed us to pivot our operations in short order and reopen connections to the USA, and progressively to the rest of our network. As a team we continuously innovate and implement changes when needed.”

Buncamper concluded, “What I like about the airline industry is that no day is the same as yesterday, and we must continue to focus on customer needs and operational efficiency. … I saw a move to Sunrise as a uniquely inspiring next chapter in my career, one that I am confident will result in Sunrise Airways becoming the top airline of choice in the Caribbean.”

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Sunrise Airways (IATA: S6, ICAO: KSZ) is a Caribbean-based regional carrier dedicated to connecting the West Indies as never before. The airline maintains hub operations in Port-au-Prince (Haiti), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), and Antigua, operating regularly scheduled passenger service and charter flights. The Sunrise Airways route network extends throughout the Caribbean, as well as to the United States (Miami) and Central America (Panama). New flights serving gateways throughout the Eastern Caribbean launched in May 2024. The Sunrise Airways corporate headquarters and Service Oversight Center (SOC) are based at Toussaint Louverture International Airport (IATA: PAP, ICAO: MTPP) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

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Corporate Office

2425 NW 55th Ct.

Hangar 20D

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309

Phone Number: 786.513.1156

Homepage Link: https://www.sunriseairways.net/

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