A Spirit Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale in Florida to Haiti’s Port-Au-Prince was diverted to the Dominican Republic Monday after the plane gangs fired at the plane. The shots damaged the plane, left a flight attendant with minor injuries and resulted in several airlines cancelling flights to Haiti until at least Thursday.
Spirit Airlines flight 951 from Fort Lauderdale was shot at on Monday by gangs near the Aeroport International Toussaint Louverture in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. The plane was just “hundreds of feet” from the runway when shots hit the aircraft and left a flight attendant with minor injuries, reports the Guardian.
The shooting forced authorities to divert the plane to the Dominican Republic and the airport closed to commercial flights for several hours on Monday. As the Guardian reports:
The shooting forced authorities at Toussaint Louverture international airport to ground all commercial flights. Flight tracking showed both JetBlue Airways and Amerijet cargo planes turning away from Haiti in the wake of the gunfire.
In a security alert issued on Monday, the US embassy said it was aware of the airport’s pause in operations and of “gang-led efforts to block travel to and from Port-au-Prince which may include armed violence, and disruptions to roads, ports, and airports”.
In a statement, the airline said: “Flight 951 from Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to Port-au-Prince (PAP) diverted and landed safely in Santiago, Dominican Republic (STI). Following the flight’s arrival at STI, an inspection revealed evidence of damage to the aircraft consistent with gunfire.”
The shooting is the second time in recent weeks that gangs have targeted aircraft in Haiti, following an incident involving a UN helicopter last month. Enough seems to be enough for commercial operators, and airlines including JetBlue have now announced a temporary halt on flights to Haiti, reports Reuters.
JetBlue confirmed that it will halt flights in and out of Haiti through December 2, reports Reuters. The cut in flights to the country follows cancellations of flights operated by Spirit and American Airlines.
Initially, flights were just canceled through Thursday, but JetBlue has now expanded the measure for an additional three weeks.
The shooting on a Spirit Airlines flight follows a similar attack on a flight in Mexico last year. The departure from Culiacán, Mexico took on gunfire moments before taking off.