FAA considers banning US flights to Haiti after planes struck by gunfire
FAA considers banning US flights to Haiti after planes struck by gunfire
    Posted on 11/12/2024
The Federal Aviation Administration is urgently considering banning U.S. flights to Haiti in the wake of Monday's gunfire incidents, with a decision expected on Tuesday, according to multiple officials.

The move would come after a Spirit Airlines plane flying from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Haiti was diverted after it was struck by gunfire while attempting to land in Port-au-Prince, according to the the Haitian National Office of Civil Aviation.

The plane was struck by gunfire four times while attempting to land at Touissant Louverture Airport in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, OFNAC said.

The Spirit Airlines plane "diverted and landed safely in Santiago, Dominican Republic," Spirit Airlines said in a statement Monday, adding that no passengers reported injuries and one flight attendant onboard the plane reported unspecified "minor injuries" and was undergoing medical evaluation.

The plane came within 550 feet of the runway before aborting its landing and diverting to the Dominican Republic, according to data on FlightRadar24.

The FAA on Monday had confirmed in a statement that the Spirit Airlines flight landed safely in the Dominican Republic "after the plane was reportedly damaged by gunfire while trying to land" at the Port-au-Prince airport.

On Monday, a JetBlue flight from Haiti to New York City was also hit by a bullet, the airline said in a statement to ABC News. JetBlue said it would suspend all flights to and from Haiti through Dec. 2 due to the civil unrest in the country.

ABC News' Aicha El Hammar Castano contributed to this report.
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