Two US airlines suspend flights to Haiti amid violence spike
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP)— JetBlue and Spirit Airlines suspended flights to Haiti this week, sources at Port-au-Prince’s international airport said, as a fresh spike in gang violence roils the struggling Caribbean nation.
Both US airlines canceled flights between Fort Lauderdale in Florida and Port-au-Prince, although JetBlue has maintained its direct flight from New York City.
Neither airline has publicly stated why the flights were suspended, though Haiti has seen a recent spike in gang violence in several neighborhoods of the capital and other areas.
A UN report released Wednesday said more than 10,000 people had been displaced due to attacks in the past week around the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.
Haiti has for years been beset by compounding political, humanitarian and security crises, but its situation spiraled earlier this year when powerful armed gangs launched coordinated attacks, which ultimately saw the nation’s unelected prime minister resign.
An interim government has since been stood up and a Kenyan-led international support mission has been launched to prop up Haiti’s police force, though it has yet to reach its intended size.
Police have struggled to wrest back control of the large parts of the capital from gangs, while violence has continued to soar.
Earlier this week, attacks in the capital’s southern Solino district sent thousands fleeing and left at least two women dead, one of whom was eight months pregnant, officials said.
The fresh violence followed a major gang attack in early October in the central town of Pont-Sonde, where 115 civilians were killed and dozens injured.
The US embassy this week also reported that two of its armored vehicles had been shot at by gangs, though no injuries were reported.
And on Thursday, a helicopter operated by the World Food Program (WFP), a UN agency, was hit by gunfire while flying above Port-au-Prince.
It was able to land safely without injuries to any of the 18 people on board.
“Uncertainty in Haiti continues while the ramping violence of armed groups and food insecurity continues to plant Haiti into a spiral crisis that requires urgent attention,” Waanja Kaaria, WFP Director for Haiti, said at a press conference Friday.
A recent WFP report said 5.4 million Haitians — roughly half the population — suffer from acute hunger.
