Regardless of the Federal Aviation Administration reopening the Japanese Caribbean airspace following the dramatic capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces, some American vacationers stated they continue to be stranded throughout the area.
As airways scrambled on Sunday so as to add flights and get individuals house from the Caribbean, vacationers resembling Nydia Han stated they continue to be caught.
Han, an anchor and reporter for ABC Philadelphia station WPVI, stated she and her household have been purported to fly from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Philadelphia on Sunday night time. However now, she stated she has been advised by the airways that she will be able to’t get a flight house till Friday.
Passengers wait at Luis Munoz Marin Worldwide Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as all flights are cancelled following the U.S. navy motion in Venezuela, January 3, 2026.
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP through Getty Pictures
“Sadly, due to Maduro’s seize and airspace being closed, we’re caught right here in Vieques,” Han stated in a video she shared with ABC Information.
The FAA issued a so-called discover to airmen (NOTAM) to airways early Saturday that it was banning flights from getting into the Japanese Caribbean airspace “attributable to safety-of-flight danger related to ongoing navy exercise.”
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated in a social media put up afterward Saturday that the Caribbean airspace ban would expire at midnight Japanese time on Sunday.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro is escorted by U.S. Drug Enforcement Brokers after arriving in New York Metropolis, January 3, 2026.
Obtained by ABC Information
Main U.S. air carriers — together with Southwest, JetBlue, United, Delta and American — canceled a whole lot of flights in the course of the airspace ban and a few are scrambling so as to add extra flights to the area to accommodate affected prospects.
Flights all through the Caribbean — together with different standard locations resembling Aruba, Bonaire Curacao, St. Martin and St. Thomas within the U.S. Virgin Islands — have been additionally canceled in the course of the airspace ban, however some airports are getting again to regular.
Flights have been arriving and departing from the Queen Beatrix Worldwide Airport in Oranjestad, Aruba, in response to FlightRadar24 .
American Airways stated it’s including 5,000 extra seats to its Caribbean routes and deploying a Boeing 777-300, the most important airplane in its fleet, to help prospects.
About 29 flights into and out of Luis Muñoz Marín Worldwide Airport in Puerto Rico have been canceled on Sunday, a far cry from the 400 inbound and outbound flights canceled on Saturday.
Billy Gunther of Florida stated he and his spouse are newlyweds and have been wrapping up their keep at an Airbnb in Puerto Rico on Saturday once they bought a notification that their flight was canceled.
Gunther advised ABC affiliate station WZVN in Naples, Florida, that it could possibly be one other three days earlier than he and his spouse get a flight again house. Gunther stated he has spoken to different vacationers dealing with flight cancellations.
“So, you will have lots of people who’re anxious, that they do not know when they are going to come house,” Gunther stated.
