Florida - Tuesday August 8, 2023: Brightline has announced a delay in their launch of service from Miami to Orlando. A news release posted Monday on Brightline's website acknowledged that the high speed rail carrier will not be ready to provide passenger service through to Orlando by the Labor Day weekend as previously announced. Tickets already purchased will be refunded.
"We’re working through the final stages of certification and crew testing," states the release, "but it’s apparent that we won’t hit our opening weekend as planned."
Actually, in a news release back in May, the company announced that it planned to launch service prior to September 1st, although they didn't say what date that would be explaining that it would depend on the completion of required testing.
In that same news release the company announced it schedule and began to sell tickets for travel starting September 1st and days thereafter.
In their Monday release, Brightline says tickets sold for Labor Day weekend will be refunded. It's not clear however whether tickets purchased for travel beyond the Labor Day weekend are being refunded.
No new date for the launch of service has been announced.
Read Brightline's release in full below:
UPDATE: BRIGHTLINE ORLANDO LAUNCH OF SERVICE
MIAMI (August 7, 2023) – “We’re working through the final stages of certification and crew testing but it’s apparent that we won’t hit our opening weekend as planned (Sept 1-6). Knowing it’s a holiday weekend, we want to give guests as much time as possible to adjust their travel plans. We have already started engaging them and will refund their tickets and provide a premium credit “on us.” We hope they will rebook and enjoy the inaugural Brightline experience. We look forward to announcing an official date as soon as possible.”
Guests with any questions regarding future travel plans to Orlando can connect with a teammate through the Help Center page.