January 29, 2026
Haiti’s airport sector is going through a delicate period, marked by a series of incidents that occurred in November and December 2025. After an initial case involving a Sunrise Airways aircraft, a Trogon Airlines plane was struck by projectiles while in flight, and a separate incident occurred on the ground at Cap-Haïtien airport.
According to the Director General of the National Airport Authority (AAN in French), Ducarmel François, the targeted aircraft “was flying at low altitude due to a technical problem” when gunfire was reported. He nonetheless described the event as a “minor incident,” specifying that the airline concerned has since resumed normal operations.
During the same week, two aircraft narrowly avoided collision on the Cap-Haïtien tarmac, an incident attributed to congestion of storage and parking spaces. “The area dedicated to aircraft parking is saturated,” Ducarmel François acknowledged in an interview with Le Nouvelliste, referring to an overflow that has become problematic.
To reduce risks, the AAN has launched rehabilitation work on a secondary 6,000-square-meter tarmac in order to relieve congestion in the main area. Discussions are also underway with OFNAC to set a maximum number of operating permits and avoid overcapacity at an airport that serves around ten airlines daily.
These incidents come at a time when the sector remains weakened by the ban on U.S. commercial flights to Haiti and the suspension of Sunrise Airways flights to Port-au-Prince. Despite this context, Ducarmel François assures that the infrastructures are “in working condition” and that security works, carried out with the HNP, the FAD’H, and the MMAS, aim to expand the security perimeter to allow a gradual and controlled resumption of air activities.
