Why Airlines May Suspend Cuba Flights During a Fuel Disruption
When jet fuel becomes unavailable across an entire country, the first question people ask is: “Why can’t the airline just bring more fuel with them?”
In aviation, this strategy is called tankering – uplifting extra fuel at the initial departure airport so that the aircraft can arrive and still have enough fuel to safely depart again without fueling at the destination .
When fuel at one airport is significantly cheaper than the destination, it makes sense to tanker into an airport. For example, an airline may tanker fuel out of the United States when flying into Canada or an airline may tanker from Canada when flying into Cuba.
Below are three practical reasons why airlines might stop flying to Cuba all together during a temporary fuel shortage, even if they could technically tanker fuel for some flights.
Economic Feasibility
It costs money to tanker fuel. Fuel is weight on an aircraft and weight costs money. Heavier aircraft burn more fuel when flying so airlines have to weigh the cost of fuel at departure with the fuel spent carrying the extra tankered fuel. If an aircraft is near its maximum takeoff weight or is limited by its maximum landing weight at destination, carrying extra fuel will force the airline to impose payload restrictions. Payload restrictions might be limiting passengers on board, carrying less baggage, or carrying less cargo.
Payload restrictions are particularly difficult on leisure routes since margins are very tight and loads are often high. Even if an airline can make one flight work, doing it reliably over and over again for a winter season is different and very difficult. If a passenger is removed from the first flight, the airlines would have obligations to rebook passengers on the next available flight. If passengers are already being offloaded on the next available flight…well, you can see the cascading effect.
Immigration Issues
An option that some might think of is to carry enough fuel to refuel on the way home. That is known as a technical fuel stop and it is an effective work around. Doing this would mean a technical fuel stop, likely somewhere in Florida. However, this causes immigration issues with passengers transiting the United States.
Passengers may need authorization to enter or transit the USA and this becomes a nightmare for an airline to manage. Even if the stop is treated as a refueling stop, the US may have unique procedures or requirements which the airlines simply do not want to handle. The exact documentation requirements for transiting passengers can vary, but the processing risk alone is something airlines simply do not want to bear.
Hoar Frost / Cold-Soaking
This is one that many people do not even think about – hoar frost. When an aircraft carries fuel for an extended period of time at cruising altitude, the fuel in the wings will drop in temperature well below 0 degrees C. As the aircraft descends into warm humid air, frost can form on the wing surface after landing. This is known as cold-soaking and it is allowed on the bottom of the wing in certain cases, but never allowed on the top of a wing.
Any frost or contamination on the critical surfaces of an aircraft (top of the wing, tail, flight controls, etc) must legally be removed prior to takeoff. In Canada, we generally use orange Type 1 de-ice fluid to remove contaminants. But in Cuba, no such thing exists.
So even if an aircraft arrives with enough fuel to leave, the aircraft may not be able to safely leave the airport due to frost which has formed on the top of the wing.
Final Decisions
Believe us when we say that airlines do not take the decision to cancel a flight—let alone suspend an entire route—lightly. This is especially true for routes that move thousands of passengers during the peak winter season, and for airlines that have entire teams dedicated to supporting operations in a specific region.
When you combine these three circumstances, there comes a point where continuing scheduled service is no longer feasible. In that situation, the most responsible option is often to pause the published schedule and shift to controlled repatriation flights designed to bring passengers home safely and predictably. While this may be deeply upsetting for travellers who have paid for an all-inclusive vacation, it’s important to understand what is—and is not—within an airline’s control. A nationwide disruption to aviation fuel supply is far outside any carrier’s authority, and cancellations on this scale are a consequence of that reality, not a decision airlines make for convenience. If airlines had a reliable way to keep flying as planned, they would—because flying passengers to vacation destinations is how they earn revenue.
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What airplane types do airlines use when flying to Cuba?
Airlines can use almost any type of jet when flying to Cuba but will generally use mid-size jets like Boeing 737s or Airbus A320s. If they sold more seats, they might upsize to a larger Airbus or Boeing like the A330 or 787.
Why can’t airlines use larger aircraft and simply tanker more fuel?
Unless a large transport category aircraft, such as the Airbus A330, is full of passengers going to Cuba, it may not be economically feasible to remove the aircraft from a higher yield, more profitable route for a Cuba flight.
What does “tankering” fuel mean?
Tankering is when an airline uplifts extra fuel at the departure airport so it can reduce or avoid buying fuel at the destination—often used when destination fuel is unreliable or expensive.
Does this mean flying to Cuba is unsafe?
A fuel disruption doesn’t automatically mean unsafe flying. Airlines suspend routes when they can’t guarantee predictable, compliant operations—not because they want to take chances.
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