U.S. airlines that rushed into Cuba last year knew the going would be tough. But it’s turned out to be such an unexpected financial slog that two carriers are now quitting the island.
On Monday, Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc. and Silver Airways Corp. announced plans to drop service entirely. Citing a 300 percent surge in airline capacity, Silver said it will end flights on April 22 to its nine Cuban destinations, which didn’t include Havana. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company failed to win regulatory approvals last year to fly to the Cuban capital, the biggest prize for U.S. carriers.
“It is not in the best interest of Silver and its team members to behave in the same irrational manner as other airlines,” spokeswoman Misty Pinson said in an email. “However, Silver will continue to monitor Cuba routes and will consider resuming service in the future if the commercial environment changes.”
Silver had already reduced weekly flights to six Cuban cities, given what it called “too many flights and oversized aircraft” from the U.S., and begun to shift its 34-seat Saab aircraft to focus on service to the Bahamas. The inability to sell Cuba flights via the major online travel agencies such as Expedia Inc. and Priceline Group Inc. had also hurt route performance, Pinson wrote.