FAA Bans All Flights to Haiti After Gunfire Hits Planes

The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has banned all flights to Haiti for the next 30 days after three planes were hit by gunfire in recent days while flying over the country's capital of Port-au-Prince.

Haiti had been in a grim state for months after gangs freed thousands of prisoners from the country's largest penitentiary in March, leading to violent protests in the months afterward. The prisoners quickly formed dangerous gangs after the escape, and since then, those gangs have ruled the streets of Port-au-Prince. The gangmembers have burned cars, set up barricades, shot innocent citizens, and looted towns, sending Haiti into chaos.

In May, Prime Minister Ariel Henry stepped down amid the turmoil, with the country choosing Garry Conille to lead Haiti once again. Back in 2011, he was elected to prime minister of Haiti, but he stepped down in 2012 to continue his longtime work with the United Nations. However, on Sunday, Conille was fired by the Haitian government after a large uptick in gang violence, which he has failed to control during his term. They have announced that businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé will be the next prime minister, hoping to finally restore democracy and peace to the nation.

Gangs have shot at government vehicles and passenger planes several times over the past few months, endangering numerous people. In October, a helicopter belonging to the United Nations was hit by gunfire from gangmembers on the ground, and another attack on UN vehicles around the same time forced dozens of evacuations. UN properties weren't the only things attacked, though.

The entire aviation mishap began when Spirit Airlines Flight 951 arrived in Port-au-Prince, finishing off a two-hour flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Heavy gunfire was heard during its descent, with several bullets striking the plane-- one flight attendant onboard sustained minor injuries. The flight was quickly diverted away from the violence, landing in the Dominican Republic's capital of Santiago. Other airlines quickly realized that incidents like this may have occurred on their planes as well, and investigations into recent flights to and from Haiti began soon after. JetBlue discovered that Flight 935 from Port-au-Prince to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport had sustained a bullet impact, and American Airlines found that Flight 819 from the capital city to Miami had also been hit by gunfire. However, no passengers on any of the flights were injured.

Spirit, JetBlue, and American quickly stopped services to Port-au-Prince after the incidents, with JetBlue extending the shutdown to December 2 and American specifically extending the shutdown for Miami to Port-au-Prince flights until February 12. These shutdowns sparked an FAA investigation, which led to a formal ban on all flights to and from Haiti for 30 days. The ban also states that US planes must stay above 10,000 feet when passing through Haiti's airspace to prevent any stray bullets from hitting passenger planes.