Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Southwest to end some of its flights to Cuba
Santa Clara, Varadero end Sept. 4; Havana remains
FORT LAUDERDALE — Add Southwest Airlines to the list of U.S. carriers ditching or adjusting routes to Cuba amid softer-than-expected consumer demand in the fledgling island market.
The Dallas-based carrier said Wednesday it plans to cease scheduled passenger flights to its two non-Havana routes — Santa Clara and Varadero — operated from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport effective Sept. 4.
Southwest said it will however continue its twice-daily nonstop service between Fort Lauderdale and Havana, as well as once-daily service from Tampa to the Cuban capital.
The low-cost carrier is also expected to add a third daily flight between Fort Lauderdale and Havana later this year pending final approval by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“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,” said Steve Goldberg, Southwest’s senior vice president of ground operations.
Stimulating sufficient passenger demand to these two markets has been challenging, the airline said.
Southwest joins Spirit Airlines, Frontier and Silver Airways as carriers that have completely canceled Cuba routes amid overcapacity in the new market, high operating costs and weak consumer demand.
Southwest launched service to Varadero last November and followed with flights to Havana and Santa Clara in December. The new flights were part of a wave of new routes launched between the U.S. and Cuba in 2016 following efforts by the Obama Administration and Cuban government to resume commercial flights between the countries after a hiatus of about 50 years.
President Obama had loosened travel restrictions to Cuba, allowing Americans more leeway to travel there under 12 approved categories, such as educational and religious activities, family visits and humanitarian projects.
A ban prohibiting Americans from traveling to Cuba solely for leisure tourism remained in place as part of a U.S. trade embargo imposed on the Communist-led island in the 1960s, which only Congress can lift.
By shifting its focus to Havana, Goldberg said Southwest will continue to answer the call of South Florida customers for access to Cuba, which is important to them, and at low fares with two free bags included.
Still, the decision to drop the two routes points to the difficulty carriers have experienced operating to Cuba even under Obama’s loosening of restrictions.
JetBlue Airways and American have also adjusted either flight frequencies or aircraft types to better compete in the nascent market. Both carriers still maintain flights to non-Havana routes from Fort Lauderdale or Miami as well as to Havana. Delta Air Lines serves Havana from Miami.
In an email Thursday, JetBlue spokesman Doug McGraw said the carrier did not have any
“0Cuba was already a difficult market for airlines.” Seth Kaplan, Airline Weekly
immediate schedule changes planned for its Cuba routes.
“As we do in all of our markets, we will continue to evaluate demand and route performance, and will adjust capacity as needed,” McGraw said.
Adding to the difficulty is the uncertainty created by President Trump’s new U.S.–Cuba policy announced earlier this month, which will end individual people-to-people travel to the island and place increased scrutiny on Americans who opt to travel there under the current rules.
While Trump’s policy theoretically allow airlines and cruise lines to continue operations between the U.S. and Cuba, its full implications won’t be known until the terms of engagement are implemented by federal agencies in the coming months.
Some industry specialists have said that Trump’s decision to end individual people-to-people travel could further soften consumer demand for Cuba flights.
“Cuba was already a difficult market for airlines, which are clearly losing money there,” said Seth Kaplan, managing partner of trade publication Airline Weekly. “Most of them have remained committed to the market based on the idea that it would slowly grow into itself and become successful. But the new policy could make that even more difficult.”