Airlines end flights to Cuba, putting Maritimers’ travel plans on ice

Many vacationing Maritimers are waiting to leave Cuba.

All of Canada’s major airlines have stopped flying to Cuba, which leaves people like Heather Warren from Moncton grounded.

She and her family booked a Cuban vacation for five last May, but she learned those plans were cancelled on Tuesday.

“It’s my first time, my grandson and my other son all get to go on a family vacation, and then it’s just cancelled,” she said through tears.

A United States oil blockade has caused tourism to the popular sun destination to grind to a halt because planes can’t refuel.

The Trump administration is cutting Cuba off from the 32,000 barrels a day it had been getting from Venezuela.

“This is going to be one of the roughest periods Cuba is going to go through since the 1960s,” says Robert Huish, an associate professor of international studies at Dalhousie University. “What we can expect in Cuba is a declaration of martial law in the coming days. The country is completely out of diesel and now they’re running out of other petroleum products as well.

“Likely we can expect food shortages, and deep rationing, continuing powered cuts in cities like Havana and Holguin and many Cubans are going to suffer in a bad way during this time.”

That’s troubling news for Dimitri Neonakis, who has been vacationing in Cuba for the last 30 years. He was set to leave for another trip on Tuesday.

“I think it’s a wonderful place to go, it’s safe,” he says. “There are so many wonderful people down in Cuba.”

Air Canada says 3,000 of its customers are currently in Cuba and the airline is sending empty planes to bring them home.

“This is unprecedented for Cuba and we’re actually seeing the situation in Cuba change by the day if not by the hour,” says CAA Travel spokesperson Julia Kent.

Air Canada has cancelled flights to Holguin and Santa Clara for the rest of the season. Year-round flights to Varadero and Cayo Coco are suspended until at least May 1.