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Haiti airport reopens after weeks of gang violence

Reuters A view of Port-au-Prince's Toussaint Louverture International Airport, Haiti. Photo: 20 May 2024Reuters
More commercial flights from and to Port-au-Prince are expected later this week

Haiti’s main international airport in Port-au-Prince has reopened, nearly three months after it was forced to shut due to deadly gang-related violence.

A single commercial flight left the capital on Monday and later landed in Miami, Florida. More flights are expected this week.

Haiti's transitional authorities hope that more much needed basic supplies - such as medicine - will now start arriving, and trapped foreigners will be able to leave the impoverished country.

But gangs still control much of the capital, and Haiti's main seaport remains closed.

Monday's flight was organised by Haiti's Sunrise Airways company, who contracted Florida-based World Atlantic charter carrier.

The departure was reportedly delayed for nearly two hours, with passengers complaining about stuffy conditions on board the aircraft.

Nevertheless, local residents said they were happy to be able to travel again.

"There are thousands of people who wanted to travel, but for a certain time who could not travel. I have my tent which I had to live in for more than three months. Many people were suffering," Rosemond Desire told AP Television News.

Until Monday, the only operating airport was in the northern city of Cap-Haïtien.

But many Haitians have been unable to get there because of continuing gang violence in and around the capital.

US airlines are not expected to resume their flights to Port-au-Prince until late May or early June.

EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock A man rides a motorcycle as tyres burn in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo: March 2024 EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
Port-au-Prince has been rocked by weeks of deadly violence

The gangs have been carrying out co-ordinated attacks, demanding the resignation of the then Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

He agreed to step down in March.

Nine members of the transitional council have now been sworn in to lead the country, seven of which have voting powers. Mr Henry's finance minister, Michel Patrick Boisvert, will serve as the interim prime minister.

Tens of thousands of people have fled Port-au-Prince in recent weeks.

Kenya is due to deploy police to Haiti at the head of an international taskforce that will try to help the country's transitional council restore some stability.