The United States has advised airlines its Caribbean airspace curbs will expire at midnight ET (0500 GMT) and flights could resume as schedules are quickly updated, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Saturday.
The comments on X followed the cancelation of hundreds of flights by major airlines after the U.S. attack on Venezuela and the capture of its president, Nicolas Maduro.
Key carriers United Airlines UAL.O and Delta DAL.N were readying to resume flights to the Caribbean by Sunday.
In a statement, United said a flight to San Juan in Puerto Rico was planned for Saturday night, adding, “We expect to operate most scheduled flights to the region for Sunday.”
Delta Air Lines expects to fly its normal Carribean schedule on Sunday, it said in a statement, but adjusted to reposition resources.
Even after the removal of curbs, however, airlines will need several days to restore normal operations, said airline analyst Robert Mann, adding, “They have a day’s worth of passengers basically,” already stranded in the Caribbean.
