Haiti's Sunrise Airways suspends domestic flights after bullets hit aircraft

Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald on Nov 23, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

A domestic flight was struck by bullets on Sunday while landing at the Guy Malary terminal of the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, sources told the Miami Herald.

The aircraft, operated by Sunrise Airways, was arriving from Les Cayes in the country’s southwest region. No injuries were reported.

The airlines immediately suspended all arriving and departing flights to and from Port-au-Prince until further notice. It did not, however, say why flights were being grounded.

A spokesperson for the airline did not immediately respond to a Miami Herald inquiry nor did a spokesman for the police.

In its statement, the airline said it was grounding domestic flights “for strictly security-related reasons.”

“This decision was made in order to protect our passengers, crews, and operations, given the current security situation,” Sunrise Airways’ statement said. “We are closely monitoring developments in coordination with the relevant authorities and will resume operations as soon as conditions allow.

“The safety of our passengers and employees remains the company’s top priority. No risks will be taken until all conditions are fully met to operate safely.”

According to sources, one of the airline’s aircraft was struck by projectiles during its final approach.

Haiti has been under a ban by the Federal Aviation Administration since gangs fired upon three U.S. carriers as they flew over the capital. The ban doesn’t affect domestic carrier Sunrise, which operates the only flights between Haiti and the U.S.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime signed off on an assistance package for Sunrise to resume domestic operations. But the decision was taken without any visible improvements to the grounds of the airport. The FAA’s ban covers U.S. commercial carriers, although U.S. military flights have landed since then, including on Sunday.

_____