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The main Canadian airlines will temporarily suspend their flights to Cuba due to a lack of aviation fuel at the island's airports, and they are already organizing special operations to bring their tourists back.
Air Canada, WestJet, and Air Transat announced the cancellation of their operations to the Caribbean country due to limited fuel availability. This decision comes after a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) issued on Sunday night, which warned that supplies will remain restricted at least until March 11.
Air Canada was the first to take action. The airline reported that, following government notices regarding the "unreliability of aviation fuel supply," it will send empty planes to Cuba to repatriate approximately 3,000 Canadian tourists currently in the island.
The company explained that, starting from February 10, fuel would no longer be commercially available at Cuban airports. Therefore, its aircraft will carry additional fuel and, if necessary, will make technical stops to refuel on the return journey, avoiding reliance on local supplies.
Additionally, it canceled all its seasonal winter flights and suspended its regular routes "until further notice," with a possible resumption on May 1, pending review.
WestJet, which initially stated that it would maintain its operations, later corrected itself and announced a total suspension of flights to Cuba, including sales and planned trips.
The measure also affects Sunwing Vacations, WestJet Vacations, and Vacances WestJet Québec. The company indicated that its flights will carry enough fuel to ensure a safe departure and has activated flexible change policies without penalties.
Air Transat announced on Monday night that it will cancel all its flights to Cuba until April 30. The company is organizing regular and additional repatriation flights to bring back its customers. Reservations with departures until that date will be automatically canceled and fully refunded.
The Canadian government updated its travel advisory for Cuba on February 4, urging travelers to "exercise a high degree of caution" due to shortages of electricity, fuel, food, and medicine, and warned that flight availability could change rapidly.
The interruption represents an additional blow to Cuban tourism, which heavily relies on the Canadian market, its main source of foreign visitors.
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