Dominican Republic advises airlines to avoid connections to Haiti

Santo Domingo – On Saturday, the Civil Aviation Board (JAC) of the Dominican Republic recommended that airlines operating regular flights from Santo Domingo avoid air connections with the international airport of Port-au-Prince, given the violent situation in Haiti.

After exchanges of gunfire were reported on Thursday around the airport of the Haitian capital, the JAC stated that “airlines operating regular flights from the Dr. Joaquin Balaguer International Airport, located in El Higüero (Santo Domingo), to the Toussaint Louverture terminal in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, should avoid making operations to that destination until this situation is not regularized.”

Despite the recommendation, the president of the institution, José Ernesto Marte Piantini, affirmed that the JAC does not contemplate, for the moment, the closing of air traffic with Haiti after the riots that reached the area of the Toussaint Louverture international airport causing damages to aircrafts and installations and conditioning air operations.

JAC does not contemplate suspending flights to and from Haiti due to the new day of violence
The JAC is observing the situation and is following up on the riots and disorders in Haiti after, according to the information it handles, armed gangs caused damage to aircraft that were parked at the airport, states the note.

On Thursday, exchanges of gunfire were reported around Toussaint Louverture, where a plane was shot at, a situation that led to the cancellation of some flights and affected the schedules of planned air operations.

Haiti has experienced an escalation of violence since Bahamian Prime Minister Phillip Davis assured on Thursday that his Haitian counterpart, Ariel Henry, had committed to holding elections before August 31, 2025.

On Friday Kenya and Haiti signed in Nairobi a bilateral agreement requested by the courts of the African country to allow the deployment of a contingent of 1,000 police of that nationality, within the multinational security support mission that the Kenyans will lead and to which the UN gave its approval last October.