During the United States occupation of Haiti the United States Marine Corps stationed Marine Observation units using HS-1 and HS-2 aircraft in what later became Bowen Field (c. 1919). In 1942, the USMC was sent to Haiti to build a facility to service Douglas O-38 aircraft used by Haiti Air Corps to observe Nazi German activity in the region. The USMC built Bowen Field (also known as Chancerelles Airport), a small civilian and military airport located near Chancerelles area near the Baie de Port-au-Prince. Bowen Field was used by Haiti Air Corps for mail (1943) and passenger (1944) services, then succeeded by the Compagnie haïtienne de transports aériens beginning in 1961. In the 1950s and the 1960s, it served as an airbase for the US military in Haiti. The current airport located further northeast of Bowen Field was developed with grant money from the US government and mostly money collected from Haitian people (taxes, lottery, etc.), opened as François Duvalier International Airport in 1965, after the Haitian president at the time, François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. The old Bowen field was decommissioned after 1994 and is now hosts Internally Displaced Persons Camp and Centre Sportif. The runway is now part of Avenue Haile Selassie. Duvalier's son and successor, Jean-Claude Duvalier, resigned in 1986. The airport was renamed Port-au-Prince International Airport. Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide renamed the airport again as Toussaint Louverture International Airport in 2003 to honor Toussaint Louverture, the leader of the Haitian Revolution. The airport was badly damaged by the 2010 Haiti earthquake. On 25 November 2012, Haitian President Michel Joseph Martelly opened the newly repaired arrivals terminal. On 7 July 2021, following the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, the airport was closed and flights were sent back to their origins. The airport was attacked by gangs alongside the March 2024 Haitian jailbreak, preventing acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry from returning to Haiti from overseas, and prompting the closure of the airport to commercial flights. By May 2024, authorities had nationalized space around the perimeter of the airport and torn down 350 buildings to increase security. The US military began flying cargo planes into the airport on 23 April and by mid-May had transported over 500 tons of material, including equipment for the Haitian National Police. During this time, civilian flights remained suspended. The airport was reopened for civilian airliners on 20 May, with Haitian passenger airline Sunrise Airways and American cargo airline Amerijet restoring service to Miami. The airport closed again due to gang violence in November 2024. Commercial operations resumed on 12 June 2025, with a domestic Sunrise Airways flight heading to Cap-Haitien. On 23 November 2025, Sunrise Airways announced that all flights from and to Port-au-Prince are temporarily suspended following an incident that occurred the same day, when a company's aircraft was reportedly hit by bullets while taxiing on the tarmac.