UDPATE: American Airlines shared with Live And Let’s Fly that its 737-800 aircraft was not hit by gunfire in Haiti. Nevertheless, the security situation remains precarious in the violence-torn capital, Port Au Prince.
As a result of civil unrest in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Thursday we suspended our daily service between Miami International Airport (MIA) and Toussaint Louverture International Airport (PAP). We will continue to monitor the situation with safety and security top of mind and will adjust our operation as needed.
Despite the above statement, service between MIA and PAP continues to operate.
I’m a pretty adventurous traveler, but there is one place I will not go right now and that is Haiti. Case in point: as the country lurches ever closer to total collapse, several aircraft including American Airlines, JetBlue, and Spirit Airlines planes have faced extremely dangerous conditions, including nearby gunfire, in Port Au Prince this week.
American Airlines 737-800, Other Aircraft, Come Under Threat In Haiti As Gang Violence Near Airport Surges
As flagged by View From The Wing, The Miami Herald reports that gang fighting in the capital on Thursday left American Airlines and Spirit Airlines aircraft in the line of gunfire.
At the time of the shooting, a New York-bound JetBlue Airways flight was preparing to take off from Toussaint Louverture International Airport. Though the airliner managed to depart unscathed, both Spirit Airlines and American Airlines canceled their flights out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Miami International Airports into Port-au-Prince.
American “suspended daily service” between MIA and Port-au-Prince “as a result of civil unrest,” spokeswoman Laura Masvidal told the Miami Herald. “We will continue to monitor the situation with safety and security top of mind and will adjust our operation as needed.”
At the time, an American Airlines 737-800 was approaching Port Au Prince. A Sunrise Airways A320, bound for Havana, Cuba (HAV), was actually hit by a bullet.
The Herald claims that American and Spirit canceled their service, but it appears these flights operated yesterday and are operating today…which is a real head-scratcher for me.
I suspect these flights are lifelines for Hatian-Americans and for necessary cargo. At the same time, when the situation on the ground is so violent that commercial aircraft are coming under attack, I simply do not understand how these flights can continue.
Part of me has thought about going to Port Au Prince to see if it is really as bad as the media makes it out to be, but I have been assured both publicly and privately that I would be a fool to go there now.
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While I cannot explain why these flights continue to operate, just be warned that the situation on the ground is really dangerous.
Why the attack?
Gang leader Jimmy Chérizier, a former cop who has been sanctioned by the U.N. and the U.S., claimed responsibility for the attacks in a video posted online. Chérizier, nicknamed Barbecue,” said the assaults were meant to seek out government ministers and Haiti National Police Chief Frantz Elbe and to keep Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who is on a trip to Kenya, from returning to the country.
As Gary Leff notes, “What’s striking is the economic divergence of Haiti and the Dominican Republic starting in the 1960s. The two countries started the period with a similar standard of living. The D.R.’s has grown eight-fold, while Haiti’s has not improved in 70 years.”
A textbook example of a failed state. It seems to me it is time for a French-led international intervention…for the sake of those thousands of civilians who have been killed through this violence over the last several years.
CONCLUSION
An attack near the Port Au Prince airport in Haiti on Thursday came dangerously close to impacting both American Airlines and Spirit Airlines. Even so, it appears that flights between the US and Haiti are continuing. As the security situation worsens in Haiti, it surprises me that commercial air service remains operational…
On a travel blog, this just might be the most interesting typo ever:
…”left American Airlines and Spirit Airlines planes riddled with bullet hotels.”
While I certainly agree Haïti needs stronger Int’l help & possibly a peacekeeping intervention w/ force to back it up, France historically would be the absolute worst country to lead such an effort, given Haïti won its revolution against the French who retaliated economically along with their allies… not sure which nations have enough goodwill to be able to really help out though
Very true, but I also think only France has the will (and perhaps the conscience) to try to make things right. A peacekeeping force and taking this “Barbeque” and stringing his decapitated head to a flagpole in Port Au Prince would send a strong message.
France’s involvement in Haiti is part of the reason why things in the country are messed up.
At this point, we need to move on. The bad Europeans came with their … *checks notes* … modern technology and infrastructure and … *check notes again* … continue to send billions every year for no apparent reason.
You need to get better notes, the ones you are checking are woefully lacking in just every way possible.
There is plenty of blame to be had by all including; France, the US and especially the Devaullier’s Pappa and Baby Doc. By the time Baby Doc left there was no basis for a stable democracy to establish that might have given the country a chance to grow and prosper.
In the early-to-mid 1990s, the US, France and Canada sought to broker the return of President Aristide and to have the Haitian Army stand down. Regrettably, the joint effort proved futile as the Haitian political and economic elites had – and continue to have – any interest in actually governing the country for the betterment of the Haitian people. One immediate way to calm the situation would be to prohibit any member of the rich families from leaving, canceling their opportunities to go to Miami, Paris, the Riviera. Block their holdings and force them to deal with the catastrophe they, and they alone have created. All of the international assistance, money and good-will means nothing if the local elites are engaged in toxic politics, unbridled corruption and open warfare with each other.
Going after the elites is one solution, but maybe canceling debts Haiti owes that are being exploited by the West too.
Haiti needs to be left alone and figure its own problems out. Enough with the ‘international aid’. If anything, we should help the DR fortify their border.
Easy solution. Tax the rich and make them pay their fair share. Even Americans on food stamps are rich by Haitian standards so all Americans, even those on food stamps, should be subject to a 5% income tax earmarked for Haiti.
@derek … El Salvador is solving it’s gang problem without US aid ,,, it’s building a bigger and more secure prison . Haiti ought to do the same .
So you want to tax the $23 a month I get from food stamps ?
You sir are living in an alternate universe.
What do Haiti, Zimbabwe, South Africa etc. have in common?
And do not come for me with colonialism. Having someone come in and give you jobs, infrastructure and, well, the damn wheel and the concept of an alphabet isn’t exactly disadvantageous.
So I’m wondering what else could be at play here?
@Loretta … What do they have in common ? Disfunction on all personal and societal levels . The UK has discovered that importing the third world results in becoming the third world .
That’s a rather asinine thing to say. The UK’s problems are due to corporate greed, corrupt politicians, destruction of the welfare system, etc.
Lefties always miss reality and blame things that aren’t even a concern.
You need to stop being such a one-trick pony and try offering something new and useful instead of the usual tired and dumb things you usually say.
Wow Loretta – it’s quite shameful that you are openly racist and white supremacist. The answer is colonialism and imperialism. Just look up the CIA coups which have destabilized governments. Look up how major corporations build infrastructure for the sole purpose of resource extraction and pay extremely low wages.
I happen to agree, miss Neil. Let’s pull completely back from all international aid and trade with these hellscapes.
They can tell us when they’re done cutting off their nose to spite their face.
Let’s be honest here that they wouldn’t have electricity, refrigeration, cars, television, or smart phones on their own.
Colonialism was bad but let’s not pretend Africans would have landed on the moon or designed a bicycle on their own. They didn’t have a written language until it was written for them.
Haiti is a unique case where they had independence since the early 1800s. They have had no White people there for over 250 years. Blaming White people doesn’t fly at all but it especially doesn’t fly with Haiti.
Your ignorance of the situation Haiti is hilarious.
Aaron’s feelings are, like, really hurt ‘n stuff.
Nah, not hurt. But your hatred, ignorance, and stupidity are a nice constant in Matthew’s comments section.
Haiti paid billions of dollars to France for the crime of freeing it’s citizens from slavery. The US enforced it.
Run the scenario back where the Haitians told the French that any French that tried to collect would be hanging on lampposts, or where the US said that any soldiers going to enforce the fine would be going on a one way trip with an unmarked grave.
If the Haiti turns out the same, then maybe you have a point.
“Wow Loretta – it’s quite shameful that you are openly racist and white supremacist”
Well, at least Loretta is consistent about being such an odious person.
Not much.
Haiti is a failed state that can partially blame the billions (in current dollars) that they paid for the crime of freeing themselves from slavery. South Africa is a beautiful country that has some places where it’s not safe to go, much like the US where knocking on the wrong MAGA door during Halloween can get you shot. And Zimbabwe has the misfortune to have a Trump-like leader who had his cronies instead of honest people counting the election results.
you sure an “AMERICAN AIRLINES 737-800 [was] RIDDLED WITH BULLETS” ?
My source was the Miami Herald story.
“jetliners shot up on the tarmac”
The article actually specifies which airline had its planes hit by bullets. It wasn’t American airlines or Spirit airlines. Maybe read the full article next time?
I read no indication that a America Airlines aircraft was “riddled with bullets”– not even lightly peppered with bullets 🙂
Working on official statement before I update story.
Don’t you have some more fake rumors to peddle, sadboi?
Don’t you have a klan meeting to get to?
No, sorry, I’m not a Democrat.
Then you definitely have a klan meeting attend.
Like nuclear weapons, these 3rd world countries can’t be trusted with technology like air travel.
What makes you think we can trust 1st world with nuclear weapons.
Truman could have demonstrate the firepower in a remote area.
Nor did he need a 2nd bomb to make a point.
Massively misleading headline and article. No where in the news did it say the American Airlines or Spirit Airlines planes were hit by bullets. Other airlines were mentioned having been hit. Please be more accurate in your articles.
These flights don’t make sense other than repatriation flights. Airlines should not let any American Citizen who doesn’t have a Haitian Passport travel to Haiti. Once all American Citizens are picked up from Haiti over a few weeks, these flights should be cancelled other than a 1x week flight for diplomats and etc. A cargo airline can move the cargo without putting passengers at risk.
Hey….let’s get in the middle of this one too!
What Haiti needs is to cried out to God in her trouble! God and God only can help this nation! When the children of Israel was bonded in Egypt there cry came up too God and God sent a deliver which was Moses. We got to get people in Haiti and the United States, Canada, French crying out with the Haitian people and the time is right now.
Where was god when all of this was happening?
Haiti is a deeply religious nation. Because of their Catholic beliefs, condoms are contraband. Haiti has the highest rate of AIDs outside of Africa. Either God doesn’t care about Haiti, God doesn’t answer prayers, or maybe there is no God.
Sure we can send in the troops but leave our crime-ridden American cities left as they are.
If American is still flying to Haiti, I wonder why resumption of TLV services – where plenty of international airlines now serve – has been postponed until ‘at least October’?
Let the French handle it…it’s their legacy!!
How do I subscribe to this blog?
I thought the Clinton foundation single handedly ended all problems in haiti? No? Didnt they? Bill and Hillary even had their honeymoon there in 1975. In 2010 they totally scamned their failed banks of $4.4 billion USD after the first of a series of devastating earthquakes.