All U.S. airlines and other commercial operators will be banned from flying to Haiti for at least 30 days, the Federal Aviation Administration announced Tuesday.
The decision came a day after a Spirit Airlines and JetBlue Airways flight was struck by gunfire over Port-au-Prince airspace on Monday. The Spirit flight was a mile east of Toussaint Louverture International Airport when it was fired upon, and the JetBlue fight had just gotten underway and was headed to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. No passengers were injured, the airlines said, but a Spirit spokesperson said a flight attendant suffered minor injuries.
In response to the incident, JetBlue announced flight cancellations through December 2, while American Airlines said flights would be canceled through Thursday. Spirit, which canceled flights from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to both Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haïtien, said flights had been canceled pending an investigation into the shooting.
The FAA issued the Notice to Air Mission, known as NOTAM, which banned U.S. civil aviation operations in Haiti’s territory and airspace below 10,000 feet (3,000 meters), after initially issuing the ban until Monday.
This is a current news item and will be updated.
