On 8 February, Cuba published NOTAMs warning that jet fuel will be unavailable at airports across the island beginning 10 February through 11 March. Historically, Cuba has relied on Venezuela for much of its oil exports and jet fuel. At the moment, the US has instituted a blockade on Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba and threatened countries with sanctions should they supply Cuba with oil. The threat of sanctions has halted shipments of oil and fuel from Mexico as well. The lack of fuel impacts Havana and eight other international airports across the country.
Impact on flights
Some airlines have begun to make changes to their schedules and cancel flights to Cuba in response to the lack of fuel. Other airlines will likely begin/continue to tanker fuel so that they can continue to operate flights.
Air Canada (AC |ACA) was the first announce it will cancel all flights to Cuba, affecting approximately 16 weekly flights from Toronto and Montreal. There are currently about 3,000 affected Air Canada customers in Cuba. To return passengers to Canada already in Cuba the airline will tanker in fuel and make technical stops as necessary. Tankering involves uplifting enough fuel at an origin airport in order to not need refueling at the destination.
WestJet (WS | WJA) and AirTransat (TS | TSC) also announced a wind-down of their services to Cuba beginning Tuesday, 10 February. Similar to Air Canada, the airlinest will ferry empty aircraft to Cuba to bring home passengers already on the island and will carry enough fuel to leave Cuba.
Aeroflot Group subsidiary Rossiya (FV | SDM) says it will continue to operate flights to Cuba making additional technical stops as necessary.
Long term implications
While airlines have dealt with a lack of jet fuel in Cuba before, the length of this shortage (and the possibility of extension) could eventually lead to deeper shifts in airline operations. The problems due to the lack of jet fuel are compounded by the lack of fuel generally in Cuba, leading to hardships beyond the immediate need to refuel aircraft. Should this blockade continue for a long enough period of time, airport operations overall could grind to a halt no matter if airlines can tanker in fuel.
Featured image ©️ Hector Yoel
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