Jan 3 (Reuters) - Major U.S. airlines on Saturday canceled hundreds of flights following a military operation in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of President Nicolas Maduro.
American Airlines, Delta, Spirit Airlines and JetBlue Airways began cancelling flights early on Saturday morning in compliance with Federal Aviation Administration airspace closures in the Caribbean.
The FAA closed the airspaceto U.S. carriers "due to safety-of-flight risks associated with ongoing military activity," the agency said in a notice to airmen.
The closure does not apply to non-U.S. airlines and operators, according to the notice.
The FAA declined to comment further.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X that airspace restrictions will be lifted "when appropriate."
Carriers waived change fees and fare differences for customers affected by the airspace closures if they change their flights to later in the month.
"We will waive change/cancel fees and fare differences for customers traveling Saturday, January 3, through Sunday, January 4, 2026," JetBlue Airways said in its advisory.
The United States attacked Venezuela and captured its long-serving President Nicolas Maduro in an overnight operation on Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump said, promising to put the country under American control for now, including by deploying U.S. forces if necessary.
Meanwhile, Air Canada said its operations to the Caribbean and South America are currently continuing "normally" under guidance from Transport Canada. "We continue to monitor the situation closely and we will update as required if the situation changes," the airline said.
Commercial air traffic over Venezuelan airspace appeared to stop after the attack, according to flight records on FlightRadar24.
(Reporting by Dan Catchpole in Seattle and Preetika Parashuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese)
