The FAA’s airspace restrictions in the Caribbean went into effect early Saturday.
The airspace over the Caribbean has reopened after the Federal Aviation Administration restricted flights in coordination with the U.S. military operation that captured Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores.
The FAA restrictions went into effect early Saturday as U.S. special forces in an overnight raid took Maduro and Flores into custody and transported them to New York to face charges for narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
All flight restrictions were lifted by midnight on Saturday, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s post on X.
“Airlines are informed, and will update their schedules quickly,” Duffy wrote.
“Please continue to work with your airline if your flight was affected by the restrictions.”
The FAA’s restrictions caused hundreds of cancellations and thousands of delays in the region, especially in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, where nearly 300 flights into and out of San Juan’s Luis Munoz Marin International Airport were canceled.
Other impacted areas included the British Virgin Islands, Barbados, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Airports are still seeing a lingering impact from Saturday’s cancellations caused by the surprise U.S. operation, which received mixed reactions from leaders in nearby countries and around the world.
San Juan’s Luis Munoz Marin International Airport reported 26 cancellations and 114 delays on Dec. 4, according to the flight tracking website flightaware.com.
Delta Airlines told customers to avoid the airport on Jan. 4 unless they successfully rebooked a ticket.
“Delta teams across our global network continue to focus on supporting customers and recovering the airline’s Caribbean operation following cancellations on Saturday in compliance with FAA airspace closures,” Delta posted on its News Hub on Sunday morning.
“Due to the physical space limitations of many Caribbean-region airports, Delta is requesting that customers avoid impacted airports unless they have a confirmed or rebooked ticket for a flight that day.”
By Jacki Thrapp
