The Federal Aviation Administration’s restriction barring US commercial carriers from operating in Haitian airspace below 10,000 feet remained in effect into 2025, as the gang threat to aircraft approaching and departing Port-au-Prince persisted despite the transitional government’s formation and the initial deployment of the security mission. The restriction, which had been imposed in November 2024 after gunfire struck aircraft near the airport, effectively prevented normal commercial aviation to Haiti’s main airport.
The continued restriction meant that the partial normalization of air service that had followed the airport’s reopening in May 2024 remained incomplete, with only carriers not subject to FAA restrictions or operating under special risk assessments able to maintain any service. The practical effect was that Haiti’s air connectivity with the United States — its most important partner for remittances, humanitarian supply chains, and diaspora connections — remained severely constrained.
The airport’s geographic vulnerability — situated in a valley surrounded by neighborhoods under gang control, with gang positions having clear sightlines to aircraft on approach — was not something that could be resolved simply by deploying additional security at the perimeter. Clearing the surrounding neighborhoods of gang presence was a prerequisite for restoring safe aircraft approaches, making airport security dependent on the broader progress of anti-gang operations in the capital.
Airlines that wanted to resume or expand service to Haiti were watching the security situation closely, assessing whether the combination of the security mission’s operations and political changes would produce sufficient improvement in airport area security to make normal commercial operations safe and viable. The restoration of normal air service was both a practical necessity and a barometer of overall security progress that the international community would use to assess the success of the transitional period.