Haiti: The main international airport of Haiti, Toussaint Louverture Airport, reopened yesterday (December 11, 2024) to commercial flights, almost a month after it closed for the second time in 2024 due to the escalating gang violence.
Reportedly, before announcing the reopening of the airport, the government of Haiti ensured that the soldiers and police are leading a UN-backed mission to quell gang violence and there is an increased security in the area while a test flight was also successful.
Through an official statement from the Office of the Prime Minister, it was stated that the resumption of commercial flights marks a turning point for the economy of Haiti and it restores important connectivity for international trade, encouraging investment and supporting major sectors such as tourism, trade and entrepreneurship.
However, as of Wednesday morning, there were no flights and no passengers with heavily armed police setting up checkpoints by the airport as they halted public transport from operating in that area to ensure the safety of the arriving passengers.
Why Haiti had to shut down its main International Airport
Notably, the Toussaint Loverture Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti shut down in mid-November after gangs opened fire on a Spirit Airlines flight that was preparing to land, eventually striking a flight attendant who suffered minor injuries.
Not only this, but other commercial flights were also hit on the same day which prompted JetBlue, Spirit Airlines and American Airlines to halt their flights to Haiti.
A day after this incident, the Federal Aviation Administration banned US airlines from flying to the Caribbean nation for one month.
Have flights resumed to Haiti
While it was not immediately clear which flights would resume its services to Port-au-Prince from Wednesday as FAA’s ban was in place till Thursday, but a spokesman for Spirit said that its flights to Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitian remain suspended until further notice.
This leads to a huge problem for the ones who want to travel out of the country in which people are never safe.
It is reported that a few individuals who could afford to escape the surge of gang violence in the capital this past month had to pay thousands of dollars to hire private air transport.
The gang violence in Haiti is at peak this time with reports of around 5000 people being killed as of now this year including over 100 which were killed in a recent massacre occurred in a gang controlled community in the capital city of Port-au-Prince.
