By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -JetBlue Airways stated late on Monday it’s going to prolong a halt to all flights to and from Haiti by Dec. 2 after injury from a bullet to a aircraft getting back from Port-au-Prince was found.
Earlier on Monday, a Spirit Airways (NYSE:) flight destined for the Haitian capital was struck by gunfire, forcing it to be diverted to the neighboring Dominican Republic. That incident had prompted JetBlue and American Airways (NASDAQ:) to cancel all flights by Thursday.
JetBlue stated its Flight 935 arrived in a while Monday in New York with out reporting any points however a post-flight inspection later recognized that the plane’s exterior had been struck by a bullet.
“We are actively investigating this incident in collaboration with relevant authorities,” JetBlue stated, citing the continued civil unrest in Haiti in its resolution to increase flight cancellations by early December.
Spirit stated in an announcement that its aircraft had been broken and brought out of fee upon touchdown within the northern Dominican metropolis of Santiago. A flight attendant was injured within the incident, whereas no passengers had been harmed.
All flights out and in of the Toussaint Louverture Worldwide Airport in Port-au-Prince have been halted, the Federal Aviation Administration and U.S. embassy stated Monday.
The FAA stated two different flights certain for Toussaint had been diverted as a precaution.
Spirit stated it had suspended flights to Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien, in Haiti’s north, “pending further evaluation.”
The passengers aboard the Spirit flight on Monday will likely be taken again in one other plane to Fort Lauderdale, the place the flight departed from, Spirit stated.
Armed gangs in Haiti’s capital have shot at plane in current weeks because the safety state of affairs deteriorates. Final month, a U.N. helicopter was hit by gunfire over Port-au-Prince.
