Eastern Airlines (2D, Miami International) has been granted extensive scheduled international passenger traffic rights following US Department for Transportation (DOT) approval. The carrier is now permitted to operate scheduled services to "all countries with which the US has an open-skies [or Multilateral Agreement on the Liberalization of International Air Transportation or MALIAT] agreement."

In addition to this, the DOT also granted Eastern further open-skies access when any additional foreign aviation partners sign future agreements with the US "without the need for further action by the DOT or the carrier."

The US has open-skies agreements with over 120 countries around the world, according to the DOT website. Those nations in the MALIAT agreement are Brunei Darussalam, Chile, the Cook Islands, New Zealand, Singapore, and Tonga. Samoa withdrew from both the open-skies partners and the MALIAT agreement last year.

The exemption authority, which was applied for in December 2019, has been granted for two years until March 3, 2022. Eastern already holds a certificate of public convenience and necessity to operate between New York JFK and Georgetown Cheddi Jagan and it has exemption authority to operate from JFK to Guayaquil. Weekly flights on the latter city pair began in January, with the route to Guyana planned to commence on March 19, according to the airline's booking engine. Ultimately, the carrier expects to fly 2x weekly to both Georgetown and Guayaquil. Also, the DOT granted Eastern rights for scheduled services between defined origins and destinations in the US and Mexico in January 2020.

To finance the Eastern's fleet and network expansion plans, the airline secured an additional USD25 million loan in December last year.

According to the ch-aviation fleets module, the airline currently operates one B767-200, three -200(ER)s, and five -300(ER)s.