A Spirit Airlines plane from Fort Lauderdale was targeted by gunfire and hit multiple times as it was trying to land in Haiti today.
The Airbus A320 departed Fort Lauderdale as flight NK951 at 14:05 UTC.
After one hour of flight, the plane (registration N966NK) was hit multiple times by bullets at around 500 ft altitude while on approach to runway 28 at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince.
The crew immediately performed a go around and diverted toS antiago de los Caballeros Cibao International Airport in the Dominican Republic 30 minutes later.
A flight attendant was injured by a bullet when the gunfire erupted.
Extremely Concerning! An Airbus A320-271N aircraft (N966NK) of the Spirit Airlines was hit by bullets this Monday as the aircraft was preparing to land at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, resulting the aircraft diversion to El Cibao… pic.twitter.com/oCLPFU6K4f
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) November 11, 2024
The incident forced the airport authority to ground all commercial flights. JetBlue Airways, Air Caraibes and Amerijet Cargo flights turned away from Haiti.
In response to the shooting, all U.S.-based carriers including American Airlines out of Miami International Airport, canceled all flights for Tuesday for Port-au-Prince.