Port-au-Prince's international, domestic airports reopen after Haiti gangs closed them

Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald on Dec 10, 2024

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Haitian authorities are reopening the country’s main international and domestic airports in Port-au-Prince as of Wednesday.

Toussaint Louverture International Airport and the Guy Malary domestic airport were both closed last month after Spirit Airlines, JetBlue Airways and American Airlines were struck by gang gunfire on Nov. 11. No passengers were hurt during the incidents, although a flight attendant on board Spirit Airlines Flight 951 out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport did sustain minor injuries after the aircraft was riddled with bullets as it prepared to land.

The incident forced several aircraft en route to Haiti to be diverted, and led Haitian authorities to shut down the capital’s airports for the second time this year because of gang attacks.

It also prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to issue a 30-day prohibition banning U.S. licensed airlines, including cargo carriers, from flying into Port-au-Prince. The FAA’s ban, set to expire on Thursday, remains in effect, a spokesperson said. Similar bans from Canadian, French and British authorities are also set to expire between Saturday and Sunday.

The lifting of the local ban, which was issued by Haiti’s National Office of Civil Aviation, doesn’t address what changes if any are being put in place to ensure that airplanes, domestic or foreign, can safely take off and land from Port-au-Prince’s airports without fear of being shot at by warring gangs. The country’s escalating violence has left 5,000 dead so far this year, the United Nations said this week, and the situation remains volatile. On Monday afternoon, a passenger minibus traveling on a national road toward the capital was shot up, killing several people and injuring others.

On Sunday, American Airlines told the Miami Herald that it was indefinitely suspending its daily service between Miami International Airport and Toussaint Louverture International Airport due to the deteriorating security situation.

Last month, American, JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines announced a suspension of all daily service into Haiti after the shooting incidents. Bahamas Air also placed its flights on hold.

American said at the time it would resume flights in early February, but a spokesperson on Sunday confirmed to the Herald that this will no longer be the case and the company would revisit the matter in late 2025. Both Spirit and JetBlue have not yet said if or when they will resume flights to Haiti.

The ban on flights and the airport closures have left Haitians stranded in and out of the country. The Hugo Chávez International Airport in the northern city of Cap-Haïtien, which was exempted from the FAA’s ban, remains operational but traveling from the city to other parts of Haiti has been almost impossible this week. Torrential rain over several days has grounded private helicopters charging $2,500 a seat, and dangerous mudslides and floods have blocked routes along two main highways.