The recent attempted kidnapping of three air traffic controllers near the international airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is raising concerns about the safety of the Caribbean country’s airspace.
The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Association, in a statement posted on its website, said it is “gravely concerned” following the armed attack, which took place Saturday afternoon near Toussaint Louverture International Airport in the capital, while the employees were being transported to work.
Following the incident, which left one air traffic controller with a gunshot wound to the leg and in need of surgery, Haiti’s National Office of Civil Aviation, OFNAC, has been using unqualified and unlicensed individuals to control the country’s skies, said Trish Gilbert, executive vice president for the Americas region of the air traffic controllers’ association. The independent professional organization, which is based in Montreal, represents more than 50,000 air traffic controllers in 133 countries.
“I get that they don’t know what to do to keep their air traffic controllers safe. But we don’t believe the answer is to just find people who have just never been air traffic controllers or were air traffic controllers 10 years ago and plug them in and have them move airplanes,” said Gilbert. “There has to be a better plan that that.”
Gilbert said the association has tried to reach out to Haiti’s civil aviation authority to discuss options, including perhaps moving to a skeletal crew or limiting air traffic to only humanitarian or flights deemed essential. But there has been no response. Attempts by the Miami Herald to reach the civil aviation agency were also unsuccessful.
“IFATCA has asked the National Office of Civil Aviation (OFNAC) for their immediate and thorough attention to the significant matters involving the safety and security of air traffic control professionals and subsequently the aviation system in Haiti,” the organization said in its statement. “Unfortunately, to date IFATCA has received no response from OFNAC.”
The safety of Haiti’s airspace is the latest in a list of issues being raised about the country, which is undergoing one of its worse humanitarian, security, economic and political crises in decades.
Since last month, a gang blockade of the country’s main fuel terminal and seaports has created shortages of fuel, food and water amid an outbreak in cholera and ongoing kidnappings. As of Monday, the Varreux fuel terminal had still not be reopened, though there were unconfirmed reports that it may soon be.
The air traffic controllers’ group said while it acknowledges the ongoing difficulties in Haiti, more must be done to protect civil aviation workers. “The health and well-being of this essential workforce is of the utmost concern to us,” the organization said.
No one is immune from Haiti’s escalating gang violence. Days before the attack against the civil aviation employees, journalist Roberson Alphonse was injured during an armed attack while heading to work. Three days later, Eric Jean-Baptiste, a former presidential candidate and well-known political leader, was killed, along with a bodyguard, as they traveled through a gang-controlled region in Laboule, the hills above the capital. Their vehicle was fired on and overturned.
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