FAA Reopens Airspace Over Caribbean After Venezuela Operation

The FAA’s airspace restrictions in the Caribbean went into effect early on Jan. 3.

Passengers wait at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport as all flights are cancelled following US military action in Venezuela, in Carolina, Puerto Rico, on Jan. 3, 2026. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP via Getty Images

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 on Jan. 3 as U.S. special forces in an overnight raid took Maduro and Flores into custody and transported them to New York City 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 Jan. 3, 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 Muñoz Marín International Airport were canceled.

Other affected areas included the British Virgin Islands, Barbados, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Airports are still seeing a lingering effect from the cancellations caused by the surprise U.S. operation, which received mixed reactions from leaders in nearby countries and around the world.

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport reported 26 cancellations and 114 delays on Dec. 4, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.com.

Delta Air Lines 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 the morning of Jan. 4.

“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.”

American Airlines allocated additional resources to assist customers who experienced cancellations and delays.

“Now that the Eastern Caribbean airspace has reopened, we have resumed scheduled service and so far added nearly 5,000 additional seats—deployed the largest aircraft in our fleet—to and from the region to support customers affected by the FAA-mandated restrictions,” American announced in an X post on Jan. 4.