Air Canada cancels flights to Cuba as jet fuel supplies run dry
A day after airlines were warned that there would be no jet fuel for them to refuel in Havana, Air Canada announced Monday that it was suspending flights to Cuba. File photo by Graham Hughes/EPA
Feb. 10 (UPI) — Air Canada became the first scheduled airline to withdraw services to Cuba due to shortages of jet fuel as the United States tightened its energy embargo on the Caribbean island.
Canada’s Montreal-headquartered flag-carrier announced Monday it was suspending its 16 weekly flights serving Havana and three other cities, effectively immediately, but said it would send aircraft to bring home 3,000 customers already in Cuba.
“For remaining flights, Air Canada will tanker in extra fuel and make technical stops as necessary to refuel on the return journey, if necessary,” the airline said.
Airlines in Russia, where Cuba is also a top holiday destination, said they had no plans to change their schedules, but Russian media reported at least one Rossiya Airlines flight was canceled with the carrier instead dispatching an empty aircraft to collect Russian tourists.
As many as 4,700 Russians on package holidays were thought to be on the island currently, according to the Association of Tour Operators of Russia.
Spain’s Iberia and Air Europa said flights from Madrid to Havana would now stopover in the Dominican Republic to refuel but would otherwise continue as normal.
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Aeromexico said they would continue flying the route, with American telling CNN that the aircraft it used on the route could carry enough fuel for the round trip without refueling.
On Sunday, an international NOTAM system notice confirmed that no A-1 jet fuel, the standard for commercial aviation, would be available at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport for one month between Tuesday and March 11.
The aviation fuel shortage and its knock-on effect on tourism was the most visible economic casualty of additional measures imposed 10 days ago by U.S. President Donald Trump aimed at shutting off all oil shipments to the island.
Accusing Cuba of harboring terrorist groups, Trump threatened any country supplying oil to Cuba with tariffs in a move principally aimed at Mexico, one of the only remaining points of supply since the United States severed the economic lifeline provided by Venezuela in January.
Venezuela was the source of most of Cuba’s oil imports until the United States’ Jan. 3 military operation to remove President Nicolas Maduro, seize control of the country’s oil and turn off the tap to Cuba.
The move was in line with the Trump administration’s efforts to ratchet up a six-decade-long U.S. trade embargo with the energy blockade exacerbating rolling blackouts and forcing the communist government to ration health and transport, shorten hours in schools and state-owned workplaces, and close some hotels as it scrambles to conserve fuel.
Official Cuban government data shows Canada was the number one source of tourists to the island with more than 754,000 Canadians traveled there in 2025, compared with 110,000 from the United States, 56,000 from Mexico and 46,000 from Spain.
