PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The Federal Aviation Administration announced Tuesday that it will prohibit U.S. airlines from flying to Haiti for 30 days after gangs shot two planes and the United Nations will temporarily suspend flights to Port-au-Prince, limiting humanitarian aid coming into the country.
Bullets hit a Spirit Airlines plane when it was about to land Monday in the country’s capital, injuring a flight attendant and forcing the airport to shut down. Photos and videos obtained by The Associated Press show bullet holes dotting the interior of a plane. On Tuesday, JetBlue announced that one of its planes had also been shot while departing Port-au-Prince on Monday.
The shootings were part of a wave of violence that erupted as the country plagued by gang violence swore in its new prime minister after a politically tumultuous process.
The Port-au-Prince airport will remain closed until Nov. 18, and Dujarric said the U.N. will divert flights to the country’s second airport in the northern, more peaceful, city of Cap Haïtien.
— The Associated Press