Spirit Airlines Flight Hit by Gunfire While Attempting to Land in Haiti

An Airbus A320neo aircraft from the ultra-low-cost airline Spirit Airlines was hit by gunfire this Monday (11) while approaching to land at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

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Flight NK951, which departed from Fort Lauderdale, was forced to abort the landing due to the gunfire and was diverted to Cibao International Airport in Santiago de los Caballeros, in the neighboring country of the Dominican Republic, where the aircraft remains at this time, according to our associated media, AEROIN.

Images recorded by the crew show the damage caused by the projectiles, both inside the aircraft near the rear door and in the overhead baggage compartments, as well as several other visible rifle bullet marks on the fuselage of the A320neo, registration N966NK.

Ce matin, l’avion de @SpiritAirlines a été touché par des projectiles, blessant un agent de bord. L’appareil a pu atterrir en toute sécurité à Santiago, en République dominicaine. En conséquence, tous les vols à destination d’Haïti ont été annulés jusqu’à nouvel ordre. #Haiti pic.twitter.com/hLaR0B0sLh

— L’oeil mondial info (@Loeilmondial) November 11, 2024

This is not the first case of a commercial aircraft being fired upon while attempting to land in Haiti, a country that has faced recurring political insecurity and power struggles for decades, with the UN mission led by Brazil having little practical effect. Last March, an A321 was also targeted by gunfire while landing in Port-au-Prince.

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Spirit Airlines confirmed to Aviacionline that ollowing the flight’s arrival at STI, an inspection revealed evidence of damage to the aircraft consistent with gunfire and that one Flight Attendant on board reported minor injuries and is being evaluated by medical personnel, while no passenger injuries were reported.

«The plane has been taken out of service, and we are arranging for a different aircraft to return our Guests and crew to FLL today. The safety of our Guests and Team Members is our top priority, and we have suspended our service at Port-au-Prince (PAP) and Cap-Haitien (CAP) pending further evaluation», they concluded.

See also: Sunrise Airways will fly to Miami from Haiti on SkyCana aircraft

Flights in Haiti

In addition to Spirit Airlines, which operates a daily flight from Fort Lauderdale to Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haïtien, other U.S. airlines with a presence in Haiti include American Airlines, with a daily flight between Miami and Port-au-Prince, and JetBlue, with a daily flight to Port-au-Prince from Fort Lauderdale and New York/JFK.  At the momento of this publication, none of their website included travel advisories regarding flights to Haiti.

Other airlines and routes include:

• Intercaribbean Airways: five weekly flights between Providenciales and Cap-Haïtien, and two weekly flights between Providenciales and Port-au-Prince.
• Caicos Express Airways: one daily flight between Providenciales and Cap-Haïtien.
• Air Transat: one weekly flight between Montreal-Trudeau and Port-au-Prince.
• Bahamasair: two weekly flights between Cap-Haïtien and Nassau.
• Air Century: nine weekly flights between Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo.

Additionally, local airline Sunrise Airways operates the following routes:

• Cap-Haïtien – Port-au-Prince: 30 weekly flights.
• Cap-Haïtien – Miami: three weekly flights.
• Cap-Haïtien – Les Cayes: 7 weekly flights.
• Les Cayes – Port-au-Prince: 52 weekly flights.
• Port-au-Prince – St. Maarten: one weekly flight.
• Port-au-Prince – Panama City: two weekly flights.
• Port-au-Prince – Pointe-a-Pitre: one weekly flight.
• Port-au-Prince – Antigua: one weekly flight.