Haiti airport reopens a month after gang violence forced it to close

(11 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Port-au-Prince, Haiti – 11 December 2024
1.⁠ ⁠Various of Haiti National Police checkpoint near airport
2.⁠ ⁠Various of police checking passengers in public transportation and vehicles
3.⁠ Various exteriors of Toussaint Louverture International Airport
4.⁠ ⁠ Flags at entrance to airport

STORYLINE:
Haiti’s main international airport reopened on Wednesday to commercial flights, one month after it closed for the second time this year because of gang violence.

Haitian soldiers and police, bolstered by Kenyan police leading a U.N.-backed mission to quell gang violence, boosted security in the area, and a test flight was successful, Haiti’s government said in a statement.

However, there were no flights and no passengers as of Wednesday morning, with heavily armed police setting up checkpoints by the airport as they stopped public transport.

An airport parking lot normally packed with cars had only about several dozen of them, the majority of them belonging to employees.

The Toussaint Louverture airport in Port-au-Prince closed in mid-November after gangs opened fire on a Spirit Airlines flight that was preparing to land, striking a flight attendant who suffered minor injuries.

Other commercial planes were also hit that day, prompting Spirit, JetBlue and American Airlines to cancel their flights to Haiti. A day later, the Federal Aviation Administration banned U.S. airlines from flying to the Caribbean country for 30 days.

It wasn’t immediately clear which flights would resume on Wednesday to Port-au-Prince.

The FAA’s ban is in place until Thursday.

A spokesman for Spirit told The Associated Press on Wednesday that its flights to Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien, where Haiti’s other international airport is located, are suspended “until further notice.”

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for American Airlines said they are monitoring the situation in Haiti and will evaluate restarting flights to Port-au-Prince for late 2025. A spokesperson for JetBlue did not return a message seeking comment.

The Guy Malary terminal, which serves domestic flights, also reopened on Wednesday.

AP Video shot by Pierre Luxama

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