KRALENDIJK, Bonaire, January 3, 2026, 10:00 ET
- Bonaire International Airport boards showed multiple U.S. and Europe-bound flights canceled on Saturday.
- KLM said airspace around Curaçao was closed and it canceled flights including KL765, affecting about 2,600 passengers.
- The disruptions followed U.S. strikes in Venezuela and President Donald Trump’s claim that President Nicolás Maduro was captured.
Multiple flights in and out of Bonaire’s main airport were canceled on Saturday, cutting the Dutch Caribbean island’s links to the United States and Europe and forcing passengers to seek alternatives.
The disruption matters for Bonaire because the island relies on a limited set of nonstop services and tight weekend schedules. The territory lies between 35 and 80 kilometres from Venezuela’s coast, DutchNews.nl reported.
KLM said airspace around Curaçao had been closed because of the situation in Venezuela, first delaying and then canceling flights scheduled on Saturday to the region, including KL765. The Dutch carrier said the cancellations affected about 2,600 passengers.
Bonaire International Airport (Flamingo Airport) listed JetBlue flight B61644 to New York as canceled on its departures board, along with United Airlines flight UA614 to Newark and Delta Air Lines flight DL1764 to Atlanta. KLM’s KL765 to Amsterdam was also marked canceled, according to the board, last updated at 10:30 a.m. local time.
On arrivals, the airport showed the corresponding inbound JetBlue flight B61643 from New York, United UA781 from Newark, Delta DL1765 from Atlanta, United UA256 from Houston and KLM KL765 from Amsterdam as canceled. The arrivals board was last updated at 10:41 a.m. local time.
Not every route was scrubbed. American Airlines flights to Miami were listed as on time, while most short-haul services to nearby Curaçao continued to show normal schedules.
KLM said flights already en route from the region had arrived safely in Amsterdam. It said it would make a later decision on the impact on flights in coming days to and from Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire, Sint Maarten, Port of Spain, Georgetown and Bridgetown.
The cancellations came hours after U.S. forces struck Venezuela and President Donald Trump said Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife had been captured and flown out of the country. Reuters reported the operation was Washington’s most direct intervention in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama.
Airlines often adjust routes quickly when military activity raises safety concerns along flight paths. For small islands with limited service, a single canceled long-haul flight can ripple through weekend bookings and onward connections.
Marchel Alexandrovich, an economist at Saltmarsh Economics in London, said the strikes were a reminder that “geopolitical tensions continue to dominate the headlines and drive the markets.” In the southern Caribbean, that headline risk was visible within hours on airport flight boards. Reuters
