More Canadian airlines suspend Cuba flights as fuel runs short

Two more Canadian airlines have suspended their service to Cuba, where fuel stocks are dwindling fast as US President Donald Trump tightens pressure on the island.

Air Transat and WestJet, which both specialise in vacation travel, announced a halt in Cuba flights after national carrier Air Canada said Monday that it was forced to stop flying to the island due to a lack of fuel.

Cuba, under a US trade embargo since 1962, has for years been mired in a severe economic crisis marked by extended power cuts and shortages of fuel, medicine and food.

It has now also been cut off from critical oil supplies from Venezuela — whose leader Nicolas Maduro was toppled in a deadly US military operation last month — and from Mexico under the threat of US tariffs.

Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on any country that provides oil to the island nation he has said is "ready to fall."

Air Transat said it was cancelling all flights to Cuba until at least April 30, "following the rapid developments of the past few hours and the announcement by Cuban authorities of an anticipated aviation fuel shortage at destination airports."

"Depending on how the situation evolves, flights to Cuba may resume as early as May 1, 2026," it further said, adding that the airline would contact customers currently in Cuba about repatriation.

WestJet announced "an orderly wind-down of our winter operations to Cuba," and said in a statement that it would also begin sending empty planes to Cuba — stocked with extra fuel — to bring customers home.