One in progress escalation of gang attacks in the Haitian capital is again leading the air carriers to suspend travel. On Friday, both Spirit Airlines and the United Nations cited the deteriorating security situation as the reason for suspending flights.

On Thursday, a UN Humanitarian Air Service helicopter was hit by gunfire in the latest incident of armed gangs targeting a foreign entity in the country. The director of the World Food Program in Haiti, while describing the incident as “a rare occurrence”, said the agency had suspended all flights on Friday as a result of the gangs targeting the Sikorsky S-61 helicopter.

“We have put all flights on hold just for today,” Waanja Kaaria, director of the Haiti program, said on Friday.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing, she added. When flights resume next week, one plane will be used and have additional routes to get humanitarian aid to areas of the country blocked by gangs’ control of roads, she said.

In addition to the cancellation of the UN helicopter flight, Spirit Airlines and JetBlue Airways also did not operate their daily service from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Port-au-Prince on Friday.

“We have suspended service to Port-au-Prince … due to civil unrest,” a Spirit Airlines spokesman told the Miami Herald, noting that flights are canceled at least through Sunday. “The safety of our guests and team members is our top priority. We are notifying guests with affected travel plans of their options and will continue to monitor the situation closely.”

The carrier’s service from Fort Lauderdale to Cap-Haïtien continues as scheduled. JetBlue Airways did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment. Although its daily service to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport flew Friday, the Fort Lauderdale flight did not.

Kaaria said the food aid agency plans to use its planes to prevent any interruption in the delivery of humanitarian assistance to many of the 700,000 Haitians displaced in Haiti by alarming gang violence. “It will now be deployed to do additional routes while … the helicopter is being serviced,” she said.

The helicopter was flying about 800 meters above the capital on its way to the southern Haitian city of Les Cayes on Thursday morning when it was hit by gunfire, according to a security report issued by independent firm Halo Solutions Firm SA. The helicopter was carrying three crew members and 15 passengers, who were not injured when it landed safely back in Port-au-Prince.

The incident occurred about eight miles southwest of the capital as the helicopter flew over the gang-controlled Martissant, the security report said, noting that the aircraft dropped to a low altitude to avoid another arriving aircraft.

The helicopter attack, first reported by the Herald, was the latest by armed gangs to launch a new wave of attacks in the capital and neighboring Artibonite Valley, even as Haitian police and an international force led by Kenya step up their offensive against armed groups. . On Monday, gangs in the capital’s Tabarre neighborhood targeted two armored vehicles belonging to the US Embassy. A vehicle was hit by gunfire that shattered its window.

Earlier this year, gang attacks led to a nearly three-month shutdown of the capital’s domestic and international airports. Now the gangs are expanding into new territories and forcing thousands of Haitians from their homes.

The deteriorating situation has increased tensions between Prime Minister Garry Conille and the country’s ruling Transitional Presidential Council. During a meeting on Friday, the council called for immediate changes in Conille’s government and called for the eventual replacement of eight ministers. Before calling for the changes, council members told Conille that the situation in Haiti was catastrophic and complained that his government was not responding adequately to the crisis.

Almost half of Haiti’s population, some 5.4 million people, are in need of food assistance, while many others, including children, are also facing hunger, the UN food program said on Thursday. Despite the challenges, the agency continues to provide Haitians with hot meals and help with cash transfers for those who have been internally displaced, Kaaria said.

“The humanitarian needs are huge,” she said.

A request for $674 million from the United Nations to help Haiti remains underfunded. Only 42 percent of the amount has been raised, Kaaria told reporters in New York after the UN’s regular press briefing.

Lola Castro, the food program’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, said the agency needs $24 million to carry it from November to March, and that’s without the additional needs anticipated from continued deportations of Haitians from the neighboring Dominican Republic. , the US and elsewhere, or the Haitians who continue to be forced from their homes by gang violence.

“The authorities say they need more support from the entire international community for security,” Castro said. “We at the World Food Program say that while we are increasing security, we cannot forget the humanitarian side either.”