US extends ban on commercial flights to Haiti’s capital due to gang violence
SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration has extended its ban on U.S. commercial flights to Haiti’s capital through Sept. 3 over a risk that criminal gangs could target aircraft.
The FAA halted all flights in November after a Spirit Airlines flight was shot at while landing at Port-au-Prince’s Toussaint Louverture International Airport. A flight attendant received minor injuries and other commercial planes on the ground were hit.
The FAA said in a notice published on Monday that it was extending the ban “due to safety-of-flight risks associated with ongoing instability,” a move that further isolates the capital of the troubled country.
The ban also was extended to include other areas beyond Port-au-Prince, with the FAA noting that gangs have increasingly attacked the Artibonite and Centre departments north of the capital, “necessitating adjustments to the area in which U.S. civil aviation operations are prohibited.”
“This expanded and shifted gang operating area raises the risk from small-arms fire to civil aviation operations at lower altitudes in these locations,” the FAA said.
The agency said pilots may deviate from the ban in an emergency requiring immediate action.
Sunrise Airways, a domestic carrier, also halted flights in and out of Port-au-Prince in late November because of a shooting involving a plane, according to the U.S. Embassy.
Those who can afford it fly in and out of Port-au-Prince via helicopters or other private air transportation.
Meanwhile, many Haitians balk at ground transportation because heavily armed gangs control the main roads going in and out of Port-au-Prince and are known for occasionally gang-raping women passing through or randomly opening fire on vehicles.
Gangs control an estimated 90% of Haiti’s capital and swaths of land in the country’s interior. A majority of those gangs are members of a coalition known as Viv Ansanm, or “Live Together,” which the U.S. government has designated as a terror organization.
The coalition forced the international airport at Port-au-Prince to close for nearly three months last year after launching coordinated attacks on key government infrastructure.
