Spirit, JetBlue, and American Halt Haiti Flights After Planes Hit by Gunfire

Haiti’s main airport, Toussaint Louverture International (PAP) in Port-au-Prince, shut down Monday after bullets struck an inbound Spirit Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale, one of two planes hit by gunfire near the airport.

Spirit Flight 951 was approaching Toussaint Louverture when gangs reportedly fired on the plane, puncturing its side with bullet holes and injuring a flight attendant. The plane was diverted to Santiago in the Dominican Republic, where it landed safely.

Spirit took the aircraft out of service Monday and subsequently suspended flights to both Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien International (CAP), Haiti’s other major airport.

Later Monday, JetBlue said it was suspending service to Haiti through at least Dec. 2 after bullet damage was found on one of its planes that had returned to New York’s JFK International (JFK). Shortly after, American Airlines announced the suspension of flights to and from Haiti.

The U.S. State Department has maintained a Do Not Travel warning for Haiti since Sept. 18, and the country has been under a state of emergency since March 2024 after 4,500 inmates escaped the country’s two largest prisons, sparking gang violence amid political turmoil.

After the airlines suspended Haiti flights on Monday, Royal Caribbean remained the only major travel company serving the island from the U.S. or Canada, with calls to its private island of Labadee, secluded from other areas.

Several Royal Caribbean ships, including Grandeur of the Seas on Tuesday and Symphony of the Seas on Wednesday, are scheduled to call at Labadee in the coming days.