TODAY IN THE SKY

Southwest drops two routes to Cuba; Havana flights to stay

 

Southwest Airlines will ax two of its three routes to Cuba, becoming the latest U.S. carrier to trim flights to the nation amid disappointing demand. 

Southwest said flights to Varadero and Santa Clara will be discontinued so that the airline can “concentrate its future service to Cuba in Havana.” Southwest will keep its existing service to Havana from both Fort Lauderdale and Tampa. 

Varadero and Santa Clara flights will end Sept. 4, with Southwest pointing to lingering travel restrictions that affect Americans traveling to Cuba.

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“Our decision to discontinue the other Cuba flights comes after an in-depth analysis of our performance over several months which confirmed that there is not a clear path to sustainability serving these markets, particularly with the continuing prohibition in U.S. law on tourism to Cuba for American citizens,” Steve Goldberg, Southwest’s senior vice president of ground operations, said in a statement.

With that, Southwest joins a growing list of U.S. airlines that have cut back Cuba service since regular passenger flights to the country resumed in November for the first time more than 50 years.

American and JetBlue each have reduced their capacity to Cuba. Neither dropped any routes, but American is now flying fewer flights while JetBlue has mixed in smaller planes to its schedules. 

Two smaller airlines have pulled out of Cuba altogether. Frontier dropped its Miami-Havana route in June, ending its only route to Cuba. And small carrier Silver Airways, which once had plans for nine Cuba routes, stopped flying to the country this spring. 

When Cuba opened up to U.S. airlines last year, routes and capacity to the island were capped and carriers had to apply for the rights to serve the Cuba’s international airports. Nearly all of the big U.S. airlines rushed in with requests to fly to the island – especially on routes to Havana. 

Against that enthusiasm, however, some industry executives openly wondered whether demand would live up to the hype. 

Without regular airline service to the island in five decades, there was little data available to carriers in trying to assess potential demand for flights to new destinations. And unlike other foreign markets, Cuba remains a unique and highly regulated place for U.S. airlines to do business.

Indeed, some of the new routes haven’t panned out as expected. 

As for Southwest, it has asked the U.S. Department of Transportation for the rights to add more flights to Havana on its existing route from Fort Lauderdale. But it will face competition from rivals who also are seeking to pick up Havana rights dropped by other airlines.

Southwest says it will offer refunds to customers with reservations for flights to Varadero and Santa Clara beyond Sept. 4.
 

Southwest Airlines' maiden flight to Havana, Cuba, arrives on Dec. 12, 2016.