{"id":287893,"date":"2026-05-28T18:53:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/287893\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T18:53:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:53:06","slug":"new-jetblue-fll-to-caracas-service-planned-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/287893\/","title":{"rendered":"New JetBlue FLL to Caracas service planned this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Terminal<\/p>\n

Terminal 1 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Friday, March 20, 2026.<\/p>\n

Pedro Portal<\/p>\n

pportal@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n

JetBlue Airways plans to start Caracas flights from Fort Lauderdale before the end of the year, the carrier said on Thursday, in what would be its first-ever service to the South American nation.<\/p>\n

The New York-based airline that is increasingly adding flights in and out of FLL would be the third U.S. airline to start flights to Venezuela since the U.S. military removed strongman Nicol\u00e1s Maduro from power in January and Washington started reestablishing ties.<\/p>\n

JetBlue didn\u2019t provide more specifics on frequency or timetable except to say it expected tickets will go on sale \u201cin the coming months\u201d and that the flights would be nonstop between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar International Airport in Maiquet\u00eda, just outside Caracas.<\/p>\n

The airline will fly its Airbus A320 aircraft, which can accommodate 162 passengers.<\/p>\n

The company said the new route \u201cremains subject to receipt of government approval and completion of applicable processes to operate in Venezuela.\u201d The country\u2019s aviation regulator would need to sign off on the new route.<\/p>\n

The entire process involved before starting service is a lengthy one.<\/p>\n

After the U.S. military brought Maduro to New York, the Trump administration left in place Delcy Rodr\u00edguez to lead Venezuela. She was previously Maduro\u2019s No. 2 and is implicated in a host of human-rights violations and acts of state repression, including torture and killings. But the Trump administration has bet on leaving her in place as an effective way to lead to a gradual transition.<\/p>\n

While President Donald Trump has downplayed the importance of democracy returning to Venezuela, he has pressed forward with normalizing some business relations. Earlier in April, the Trump administration lifted a host of sanctions on Venezuela.<\/p>\n

JetBlue follows American Airlines and United Airlines. On April 30, American Airlines resumed non-stop service between Miami International Airport and Caracas<\/a>. United said in May it will return non-stop flights between Houston and Caracas, starting Aug. 11.<\/p>\n

MORE: JetBlue \u2018going to get a lot bigger\u2019 with Fort Lauderdale hub, airline head says<\/a><\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s announcement also comes just days after JetBlue said it was making a major bet on FLL following the demise of Spirit Airlines at the beginning of May.<\/p>\n

The carrier has already added numerous flights and plans to convert Fort Lauderdale airport into its first hub, president Marty St. George said in a May 22 interview with the Miami Herald. It also plans to expand its pilots base there, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we\u2019re bigger than we\u2019ve ever been at FLL,\u201d St. George said in that interview. \u201cAnd we\u2019re going to get a lot bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

JetBlue in Thursday\u2019s statement described Fort Lauderdale as \u201ca key gateway to the Caribbean and Latin America, where the airline offers customers an extensive network of destinations across the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the same statement, Dave Jehn, vice president of network planning and airline partnerships at JetBlue, said \u201cwe believe there is meaningful opportunity to expand our presence in the region with planned service to Caracas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vinod Sreeharsha<\/a><\/p>\n

Miami Herald<\/p>\n

Vinod Sreeharsha covers tourism trends in South Florida for the Miami Herald.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Terminal 1 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Friday, March 20, 2026. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com JetBlue Airways plans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-287893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}