US Strikes on Venezuela Snarl Caribbean Air Travel

DALLAS — US airways have cancelled dozens of flights sure for the Caribbean after the FAA restricted airspace following US strikes on Venezuela and the seize of robust man Nicolás Maduro.

According to journey information outlet Open Jaw, the fast-moving restrictions successfully grounded US service to San Juan and disrupted hyperlinks to Aruba, the Dominican Republic and a number of other Dutch and French territories, as operations groups scrambled to re-route or cancel flights.

By noon Saturday, the Washington Post stories that greater than 700 flights touching US airports had been cancelled, together with over 300 at San Juan’s Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU), nearly half of that gateway’s schedule, and greater than 125 at New York JFK. JetBlue alone reported cancelling greater than 200 flights as carriers issued waivers and rebooking choices to stranded passengers.

American Airlines (AA), Delta Air Lines (DL) and Southwest Airlines (WN) all mentioned they had been complying with the FAA’s emergency NOTAM, which bans US airways from flying close to Venezuela, Puerto Rico and different components of the Caribbean “due to safety-of-flight risks associated with ongoing military activity.”

Similar restrictions from European authorities triggered knock-on disruptions for flag carriers serving the Dutch Caribbean and northern South America, with some flights compelled to show again or maintain whereas dispatchers labored up compliant routings.

What It Means for Caracas (CCS)

For Venezuela’s primary worldwide gateway, Simón Bolívar International Airport (CCS), the weekend’s occasions are the end result of a long-running deterioration within the danger profile of its surrounding airspace.

In November 2025, the FAA issued a powerful warning for the SVZM/Maiquetía Flight Information Region, citing elevated army exercise, GPS interference and a “worsening security situation,” and requiring US operators to offer 72 hours’ discover earlier than coming into the FIR. European regulators and states together with Spain and Portugal adopted with comparable advisories, and a number of worldwide airways started suspending flights or routing round Venezuelan airspace altogether.

Today, that warning has hardened right into a full ban with a brand new FAA NOTAM that now prohibits US business flights in Venezuelan airspace in any respect altitudes due to “ongoing military activity” round Caracas.  In apply, meaning any remaining US companies to CCS are successfully halted, whereas North–South overflights that after reduce throughout Venezuela should detour by way of Colombia or different neighboring FIRs.

For Venezuelan connectivity, the burden shifts much more closely to a shrinking record of non-US carriers nonetheless serving Caracas and secondary cities, a lot of which had been already reevaluating their schedules after the late-2025 advisories.

Travel consultants advise in opposition to cancelling future Caribbean journeys wholesale, noting that the army operation seems contained and that airways “are eager” to revive regular schedules as soon as restrictions are lifted. One regional provider, Caribbean Airlines (BW), has said there have been no disruptions to its companies right now and that every one scheduled flights had been working as regular.

Regardless, with Venezuelan airspace successfully off-limits to US carriers and topic to heightened warnings for others, final evening’s actions in Caracas have reshaped site visitors flows throughout the whole area, inserting renewed scrutiny for some and hope for different on the long-term viability of Caracas as a connecting hub.

This is a creating story.