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Air Transat intends to evacuate all of its customers from Cuba next Wednesday, amid a plea for Canadians to avoid delaying their departure from the country.
Flights from Canada to Cuba have been suddenly disrupted in recent days, after Cuban authorities announced that a fuel shortage would prevent planes from refueling on the island.
On Wednesday, the Canadian federal government updated its travel advisories for Cuba, urging people to avoid all non-essential travel there and not to extend their stay in the country.
The situation has already prompted Air Canada, WestJet and Air Transat to ground flights to the island nation and make plans to bring their customers home immediately.
On Thursday, Air Transat provided an update on its recovery plan that it posted on its website.
It said it plans to return 100 percent of its customers “to their place” by February 17, with outbound flights beginning Wednesday.
The company said the new plans have been sent to all its customers who are scheduled to return on Saturday.
Customers whose flights are due between Feb. 15 and 17 were sent confirmations for that trip.
5,000 Transat customers are still in Cuba
An Air Transat spokesperson told CBC News that more than 6,500 customers were in Cuba “at the beginning of the recovery effort,” but said only 1,500 of those people. did you come back yesterday or will you fly home on Thursday.
That leaves about 5,000 of its customers going home after Thursday.
The flights Air Transat sends to Cuba to pick up travelers are not taking Canadian tourists to the country at this time.
“Air Transat flights are operating empty on the outbound leg from Canada and are only used to repatriate customers, with limited exceptions,” a spokesperson said via email.
“This exception involves Cubans who were visiting Canada and were sent back to their place of departure from Cuba.“
Meanwhile, Air Canada announced on Monday that it has started flights to bring back about 3,000 customers.already where you are going and bring them home” from Cuba.
The company did not immediately respond to an emailed request for an update on the status of its repatriation effort.
This week, WestJet also said it would suspend flights to Cuba and send empty planes there to pick up clients on holiday so they can come home.
A WestJet spokeswoman said in an email Thursday that the airline continues to “progress in our goal of repatriating all Canadian tourists in Cuba by February 17.”
The airline is sending planes with enough fuel to avoid overcrowding in Cuba.
That change has resulted in “several originally scheduled flights” being modified or canceled, which are now being confirmed through Toronto.
“These changes allow us to maintain safe operations while ensuring we can return visitors to Canada quickly and reliably,” the spokesperson said.
WestJet did not indicate how many customers it has live in Cuba.
Albertan Jerry Kitt will fly home on WestJet in a few days, but says he’s in no rush to end his vacation early.
“We’re all determined to stay,” Kitt, who has been to Cuba six times before, said in a brief interview with CBC News Thursday evening.
Kit said he had a message from WestJet saying that his flight that was supposed to leave later this month has been cancelled. But he has not heard when he will fly home.
US pressure on Cuba
Fuel supplies to Cuba have come under pressure as the United States moved to stop nearby suppliers, including Venezuela and Mexico, from supplying oil to Havana.
US President Donald Trump is applying heavy economic pressure on Cuba which is already suffering from food and energy crisis. Andrew Chang explains why the US is choosing now to cut off the country’s oil supply, and why, for Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, it’s also personal.
The US forcibly removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power in January and now has strong influence over Venezuela and its oil.
The US also pressured Cuba’s longtime ally Mexico to cut off any oil supplies to Havana and threatened to impose sanctions on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba.
On Thursday, two Mexican military ships docked in Cuba carrying humanitarian aid, including food and hygiene supplies.
“Sometimes you think things are going to be okay, but they’re not,” said Javier González, a Cuban who spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday, as he watched the Mexican ships arrive.
“We can’t stay like this because it’s difficult. We have to wait and see.”
A contribution to an important industry
The fuel shortage is expected to be another blow to Cuba’s once booming tourism economy.
Cuba used to receive more than a million Canadian visitors a year in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Cuba’s tourism industry has been struggling recently, and few Canadians have been traveling there.
Cuban analyst Andrés Pertierra said the damage done to the country’s tourism industry will have dire consequences.
“A reduction in tourism during what should be high season will affect everything else,” Pertierra told CBC News via email earlier this week.
