Alaska Airlines To Stop Flying To Cuba

November 15, 2017

Alaska Airlines is the latest carrier to cancel flights to Cuba, blaming changes to US policy for the decision.

The daily Los Angeles LAX to Havana flight, which launched in January this year, will end on January 22, 2018. Aircraft used on the service will be redeployed to markets with higher demand, the airline said.

The Seattle-based carrier said in a statement “About 80 percent of Alaska's flyers to Havana visited under a US allowance for individual ‘people-to-people’ educational travel. Changes to US policy last week eliminated that allowance.”

People with reservations on Alaska's Havana flights after January 22 will be rebooked onto another airline or offered a refund.

Alaska is the latest US airline to announce the cancellation of Cuban flights. American Airlines dropped some flights between Miami and Holguin, Santa Clara and Varadero earlier this year.

Southwest stopped flying to Varadero and Santa Clara in September, leaving Havana as its only Cuban destination.

United Airlines, in contrast, applied to DOT in September to increase flight frequencies between Houston and Havana.

Delta Air Lines currently flies daily to Havana from New York-JFK, Atlanta and Miami, while JetBlue serves Camaguey, Havana, Holguin and Santa Clara from Fort Lauderdale.

(Airwise)