ORLANDO, Fla. – JetBlue is flying passengers from Orlando to Haiti.
Flights will travel from Orlando International Airport to Port-au-Prince’s Toussaint Louverture International Airport starting Thursday. The route is the airline’s first-ever nonstop flight between Central Florida and Haiti.
"Haiti is such a vibrant destination. We're very excited about connecting the Orlando Haitian community with Port-au-Prince," said JetBlue director of airport services Joshua Goldwitz.
JetBlue carries more than 38 million customers a year to 101 cities in the U.S., Caribbean and Latin America, with an average of 1,000 daily flights. .Orlando is JetBlue's fourth city with direct flights to Port-Au-Prince and that service will be offered throughout the year.
Odette Little was on the first flight from Orlando to Haiti on Thursday. She said the new route makes it much more convenient for her to travel because she used to have to drive to the Miami airport.
"This is so perfect. Just to leave our house this morning, we didn't have to drive to Miami and leave our cars. We could just drive right here to the airport," Little said.
She called the new route "a dream come true."
"We go to Haiti often, so this is amazing. We can't thank Jet Blue enough for this, so we are very happy, " Little said.
Meanwhile, AAA is predicting a record 107 million people are expected to travel during the 2017 holiday season from Dec. 23 to Jan. 1.
According to new numbers released by AAA, 97.4 million people are expected to get to their holiday destination by driving. About 5 million Floridians are expected to hit the road.
Experts predict drivers will see peak congestion on Dec. 20 and 21 as commuters mix with holiday travelers.
AAA predicts 6.4 million people will fly for the holidays, a 4.1 percent increase from last year.