American Airlines Resumes Daily Flights to Haiti’s Cap-Haïtien Despite U.S. “Do Not Travel” Warning

American Airlines has restarted daily non-stop flights from Miami to Cap-Haïtien in northern Haiti, giving travelers a rare route into the country while the U.S. government advises Americans not to go there for any reason.

CBC News reports the service began at the start of November. The airline’s first flight landed in Cap-Haïtien on Nov. 1.

“We are excited to return to Haiti,” American Airlines told CBC News.

The U.S. State Department advises against all travel to Haiti because of the ongoing state of emergency and security risks, including crime, kidnapping and unrest. Canada gives the same advice. The State Department told CBC it “welcomes” the new service, but that its travel advice has not changed.

“The Trump Administration has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans.”

The flights go to Cap-Haïtien, about 200 kilometres north of the capital, Port-au-Prince. U.S. flights have been banned from landing in the capital since November 2024, when gangs fired on aircraft, including an American Airlines flight. The Federal Aviation Administration has extended that ban into 2027. JetBlue halted its Haiti service in 2024 after one of its planes was shot at, and said in July it had no plans to return.

Wolf Pamphile, founder of the Washington think tank Haiti Policy House, said Cap-Haïtien has become “the main hub” for many international flights to the island, and that its security situation is “drastically different” from the capital’s. He said travel to Haiti from the U.S. has been “very complicated,” and that American brings reliability and customer service “that doesn’t exist in the market right now.”

American says it reviewed operational, safety and business considerations before starting service. The flight attendants’ union says it was briefed on the plan, which does not require crews to overnight in Haiti.