Fort Pierce missionaries to Haiti will resume operations after receiving a flight ban waiver Wednesday.

Missionary Flights International may land at airports in northern Haiti, which are safer than its usual destination of Port-au-Prince, until the Federal Aviation Administration lifts its flight ban on Dec. 12, President Joe Karabensh said.

“We still have new rules and procedures laid out by the FAA to follow,” Karabensh said, without expounding on them.

The nonprofit supplies 600 organizations with 300 workers. When the FAA banned flights to Haiti Nov. 12, the nonprofit had 50,000 pounds of goods waiting to be delivered and a group of doctors waiting to return to the U.S.

“They were going for a week, not five weeks,” Karabensh said, referencing the 30-day flight ban the FAA imposed after three airlines’ passenger jets were hit by gunfire while flying over Haiti’s capital on Nov. 11. 

The FAA initially allowed MFI only two flights to evacuate its doctors and other members, the second of which was on Nov. 18. Then it granted a waiver to resume operations through northern airports in Pignon and Cap Haitien, with flights planned for Nov. 25 and Nov. 26, Karabensh said.

Rachelle Barrett is TCPalm’s general assignment reporter. Contact her at rachelle.barrett@tcpalm.com.