Reported By Lola Poisso, Special To CWN

CaribWorldNews, NEW YORK, NY, Thurs. July 3, 2008: The new airport on Ambergris Cay, one of the southern islands in the Turks & Caicos, has been named after a Haitian migrant.

The airport has now been renamed the "Harold Charles International Airport" after a Haitian migrant who left Haiti at 19 years old in search of a better life and to realize his dream of becoming a pilot. 
Young Harold used to work at the airport immigration office in his home town where he would meet interesting people, like Sam Lightbourne who invited him to Turks and Caicos.  On his third visit there, Harold decided to stay for good.  There he tried to work in anything that had to do with airplanes -- from cleaning the plane to cleaning the oil on the floor.  He also did whatever it took to learn about airplanes. Then, in 1979 he went to Florida to obtain his license as a pilot. 

He started his first airline, "Charles Air," in 1985.  In 1988 Henry Mensen bought 49 percent of the company and has been a business partner of Charles since.  In 1993, Art Butterfield bought out Charles Air which became Turks and Caicos Airways. 

In 1995, after two years of non-competition, which was part of the sale deal, Charles started his new airline, SkyKing.

Ambergris Cay used to be a private island of his business partner Henry Mensen.  Later on Charles became Henry's partner in the development of the islands. Some developer friends who came to visit them saw the potential of the island. They made an offer to Charles and Mensen which they couldn’t refuse.  Now, Ambergris Cay is a private island with many owners who’ve purchased land there.

Of course Charles remains a key actor in the continued development of Ambergris.  One of his major accomplishments has been his participation in the building of that island's airport, which deservingly, has now been named after him.