{"id":24734,"date":"2024-03-06T05:32:47","date_gmt":"2024-03-06T10:32:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/?p=24734"},"modified":"2024-03-06T06:45:57","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T11:45:57","slug":"haiti-crisis-airport-attacked-aircraft-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/haiti-crisis-airport-attacked-aircraft-shot\/","title":{"rendered":"Haiti Crisis: Airport Attacked, Aircraft Shot"},"content":{"rendered":"<h6><strong>Key Points<\/strong><\/h6>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Worsening gang violence in Haiti. A state of emergency is now in place, and the US Embassy has issued a new warning for its citizens to leave immediately. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Aviation has also come under direct threat, with reports of several armed attacks at MTPP\/Port-au-Prince in recent days. All flights have been cancelled until further notice and the airport is now effectively closed. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>There are no official airspace warning for Haiti. However, conditions on the ground have been likened to an active war zone. For flights, normal services are unlikely to be available, and crew security cannot be guaranteed.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><strong>Airport Attacks<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>On March 4, several dozen heavily armed gang members attempted to <strong>take control of MTPP\/Port-au-Prince airport.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>They breached the airport perimeter and exchanged machine gun fire with police but ultimately failed. Airport staff were forced into hiding. Soldiers have since been stationed there for protection.<\/p>\n<p>Since then,<strong> all flights have been cancelled.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This followed a separate attack last week where an A321 was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aerotime.aero\/articles\/dominican-airlines-a321-shot-damaged-haiti\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">damaged by a bullet<\/a> after landing. Sustained gun fire was reported along the access road to the airport during this time.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_24740\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24740\" class=\"size-large wp-image-24740\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_5692-1024x576.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_5692-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_5692-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_5692-768x432.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_5692.jpeg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-24740\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A landing A321 at Port-au-Prince was apparently damaged by gunfire after landing on Feb 29.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t look to the MTPP Notams for help \u2013 you won\u2019t find anything.<\/strong> However, the media has reported several closures of the airport in recent days in light of these events.<\/p>\n<p>Gangs are fighting fiercely for resources and revenue. This includes control over key transport routes hindering freedom of movement and further empowering the gangs \u2013 which is <strong>why the airport is being actively targeted.<\/strong> Gangs may also have the additional political motivation to interfere with ops at the airport in an attempt to stop the existing president from being able to re-enter the country.<\/p>\n<h4>State of Emergency<\/h4>\n<p>The Haitian Government declared a state of emergency on March 3, which will apply until further notice. On the same day, the US Embassy issued its own <a href=\"https:\/\/ht.usembassy.gov\/security-alert-u-s-embassy-port-au-prince-haiti-march-3-2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">warning<\/a> <strong>asking citizens to leave.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Embassy itself is periodically closing, and its staff are highly unlikely to be able to help anyone who finds themselves in trouble.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_24742\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24742\" class=\"size-large wp-image-24742\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/embassy-1024x683.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/embassy-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/embassy-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/embassy-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/embassy-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/embassy-2048x1365.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/embassy-900x600.jpeg 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-24742\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Machine gun fire has been reported near the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince<\/p><\/div>\n<h4>Impact on Overflights<\/h4>\n<p>The FAA does not currently have any active airspace warnings in place for Haiti.<\/p>\n<p>The country operates its own small chunk of airspace \u2013 the <strong>MTEG\/Port-au-Prince FIR<\/strong>. Adjacent sectors include Cuban, Dominican Republic and US airspace. Its Notams are also conspicuously quiet.<\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-24749\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Haiti.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"986\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Haiti.png 986w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Haiti-300x162.png 300w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Haiti-768x415.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 986px) 100vw, 986px\" \/>No restrictions on overflights have been published<\/strong>, with flight tracking still showing sporadic airline traffic overflying\u2013 although the bulk appear to be transiting further east over the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n<p>The Dominican Republic has banned all passenger and cargo flights to and from airports in Haiti (MDCS Notam A0111\/24 refers), but this does not restrict overflights.<\/p>\n<p>The gangs however have shown an active intent to target <strong>government infrastructure<\/strong> \u2013 its not clear yet what effect this may have on controllers\u2019 ability to perform their duties at short notice.<\/p>\n<p>At the very least, a solid contingency should be in place right now for a <strong>short notice reversion to Class G.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Special care also needs to be taken for the possibility of <strong>unplanned landings or diversions<\/strong> \u2013 especially to Port-au-Prince. Normal services are unlikely to be available, and <strong>crew security cannot be guaranteed.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As the situation evolves, keep an eye out for updated information from aviation authorities such as the FAA who may publish background information or additional flight restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>We will report any we see on our conflict zone and risk database, <a href=\"http:\/\/safeairspace.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">safeairspace.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you have any other information you\u2019d like to share with us, don\u2019t hesitate to get in touch via <a href=\"mailto:news@ops.group\">news@ops.group.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Points Worsening gang violence in Haiti. A state of emergency is now in place,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":24761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[159,648,860],"class_list":{"0":"post-24734","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-briefings","8":"tag-haiti","9":"tag-risk","10":"tag-security"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24734"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24760,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24734\/revisions\/24760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}