The turquoise waters of Varadero and the colonial streets of Havana suddenly feel much farther away for Canadian travelers. On February 9, 2026, Air Canada announced it was suspending all flights to Cuba, citing an abrupt and unprecedented shortage of aviation fuel across the island. The move left thousands of holidaymakers scrambling for answers and raised urgent questions about the fragility of Cuba’s tourism lifeline and the geopolitics now rippling through Caribbean airspace.
What Triggered Air Canada’s Sudden Cuba Pullout
Air Canada’s decision did not come out of the blue. In the days leading up to February 9, Cuban aviation authorities circulated formal Notices to Air Missions, or NOTAMs, warning that Jet A-1 fuel, the standard for commercial aviation, would no longer be available at the country’s main international airports. The alerts specified that, as of February 10, 2026, fuel supplies would be effectively cut off until at least March 11, a full month of disruption in the middle of peak winter travel season.
Faced with those notices, Air Canada, the country’s flag carrier and largest airline, concluded that reliable operation to the island was no longer possible. The company announced the immediate suspension of all service to Cuba, a network that ordinarily includes multiple weekly flights from Toronto and Montreal to resort destinations such as Varadero, Cayo Coco, Holguín and Santa Clara. While some carriers opted to gamble on complex refueling workarounds, Air Canada chose a more conservative path, saying it could not sustain regular commercial operations without assured fuel at destination.
In a statement, the airline emphasized that the decision was driven by operational realities, not demand. Bookings to Cuba, especially from frigid Canadian cities in February, were strong. The hard limit was fuel, and Cuba was publicly acknowledging it could not supply any. Aviation fuel shortages are rare in global commercial aviation. An entire country’s airport system being unable to refuel aircraft for a month is almost unheard of, underscoring the severity of Cuba’s broader energy crisis.
The Geopolitical Fuel Blockade Behind the Aviation Crisis
Behind the dry technical language of NOTAMs lies a highly charged political story. Cuba’s aviation fuel shortfall is part of a larger energy crunch that has been building for months, intensified by a United States oil blockade that aims to squeeze the island’s access to crude and refined products. New measures adopted in late January threaten tariffs and penalties on countries and companies supplying oil to Cuba, a move that has sharply curtailed shipments from traditional partners such as Venezuela and Mexico.
With seaborne oil deliveries throttled and domestic production insufficient, Cuba’s refineries and power plants have struggled to keep pace with demand. Rolling blackouts, rationed fuel sales and curtailed public services have become common across the island. The latest escalation, however, strikes at one of the country’s most visible links with the outside world: its ability to keep planes flying in and out of its gateways.
International airlines, including Air Canada, received formal notification that Jet A-1 fuel would not be available at nine major airports, from Havana and Varadero to Holguín, Santiago de Cuba and Cayo Coco. Similar alerts were disseminated through global aviation channels, confirming that the problem was not isolated to a single city but extended across the national network. In effect, Cuba’s commercial aviation infrastructure has been temporarily decoupled from the global fuel supply chain.
The impact ripples far beyond airline timetables. Tourism is one of Cuba’s last remaining hard-currency engines after years of economic strain. The country has struggled to rebuild visitor numbers in the wake of the pandemic, even as traditional markets in Europe and Canada slowly return. Making it harder, or in some cases impossible, for travelers to arrive threatens to deepen a financial crisis already amplified by shortages of food, medicine and basic consumer goods.
How Air Canada Is Repatriating Stranded Tourists
At the time of the suspension, Air Canada estimated it had roughly 3,000 customers in Cuba, many of them on all-inclusive vacation packages sold through Air Canada Vacations. For those travelers, the priority quickly shifted from relaxing on the beach to finding a way home. To manage the situation, the airline adopted a strategy more commonly associated with crisis evacuations than winter sun holidays.
Over the coming days, Air Canada will operate so-called ferry flights to Cuba, sending aircraft southbound without passengers or with minimal loads so that precious fuel can be maximized for the return leg. Once on the ground, crews will board outbound customers and fly them back to Canada, tankering in enough fuel from Canadian airports or arranging technical stops in third countries to complete the journeys safely.
For customers whose future trips have been disrupted, Air Canada Vacations has rolled out a refund policy. Travelers with scheduled departures to Cuba whose flights are cancelled are being offered automatic refunds in their original form of payment, without having to call in. Earlier in the month, as Cuba’s energy woes worsened and resort closures began, the airline had already introduced flexible rebooking options, allowing passengers to change destinations or travel dates without penalty.
On the ground in Cuba, Air Canada Vacations representatives are positioned at major resort areas to provide information, coordinate transfers and reassure guests as the repatriation plan unfolds. While the logistical challenge is significant, the airline insists it expects to bring home its stranded customers according to, or close to, their original schedules, minimizing the need for extended stays or last-minute hotel changes.
What This Means for Canadians Planning a Cuba Getaway
For Canadians considering or already holding bookings for Cuba vacations in the weeks ahead, the suspension is a major blow. Cuba has long been one of Canada’s favorite winter escapes, prized for its warm climate, competitive package prices and relative proximity compared to other Caribbean destinations. Air Canada’s network has been central to that appeal, offering nonstops from big hubs and secondary cities alike.
In the immediate term, anyone booked on Air Canada flights to or from Cuba should expect their itineraries to be either cancelled or significantly altered. Travelers are being advised to monitor their reservations closely, look for communications from the airline and tour operators, and be prepared to shift their holidays to alternate destinations in Mexico, the Dominican Republic or elsewhere in the Caribbean. Refund and rebooking policies have been relaxed specifically to accommodate those forced changes.
It is important to note that not all Canadian airlines have pulled out. Carriers such as Air Transat and WestJet/Sunwing have indicated they intend to continue operating to Cuba, at least for now, by tankering extra fuel from Canada and planning mid-route refueling stops in nearby countries. That means some capacity to popular Cuban resorts remains, but with serious caveats. Flights may be subject to schedule changes, longer travel times and increased operational complexity, all factors that travelers should weigh when making plans.
Travelers should also consider the conditions on the island itself. The same fuel shortages that are grounding planes are contributing to rolling power outages, reduced public transportation and the temporary closure of some resorts and services. While many hotels have generators and contingency plans, the overall visitor experience may be less predictable than in previous years. Prospective visitors would be wise to stay in close contact with their travel agents and tour operators for the latest on hotel operations, local infrastructure and safety considerations.
Cuba’s Airports Go Quiet: Inside a Month Without Jet Fuel
The NOTAMs now in effect paint a stark operational picture. Havana’s José Martí International Airport, the country’s principal gateway, is officially listed as having no Jet A-1 fuel available from February 10 through March 11. Similar notices apply to Varadero’s Juan Gualberto Gómez Airport, Cayo Coco’s Jardines del Rey, Holguín’s Frank País and other key international fields. Collectively, these nine airports handle the bulk of Cuba’s international passenger traffic.
Without fuel at destination, airlines face three options, each with serious downsides. They can tanker all the fuel needed for a round trip, which reduces payload and may limit the number of passengers and bags that can be carried. They can plan technical stops in another country, adding complexity, extra flight time and cost. Or they can suspend operations altogether until the situation improves. For a full-service carrier like Air Canada, balancing safety, reliability and cost led to the decision to step back completely rather than attempt an improvised schedule.
The result is a kind of forced quiet at terminals that, in mid-February, would normally be buzzing with charter flights, package tour arrivals and a stream of family visitors from North America and Europe. Airport workers, taxi drivers, private guesthouse owners and tour guides are all bracing for a lean period as seat capacity drops and uncertainty hangs over the rest of the high season. The crisis exposes just how dependent many local livelihoods have become on a steady flow of foreign travelers.
Aviation analysts warn that the shock to air connectivity could have cascading effects. Charter operators and smaller airlines that rely on Cuba routes to fill winter schedules may need to redeploy aircraft in a rush, potentially straining capacity to other sun destinations. Travelers who shifted away from pricier Caribbean islands in favor of Cuba’s budget-friendly resorts may find prices rising elsewhere as demand redirects.
Beyond the Beach: A Tourism Economy Under Pressure
Before the pandemic, tourism generated several billion dollars a year for Cuba, supplying crucial foreign currency to an economy constrained by long-standing sanctions, weak domestic production and limited access to international finance. The sector has never fully recovered from the collapse in global travel, and recent years have seen a patchwork of resort closures, reduced services and lower visitor numbers.
The current fuel crisis threatens to drag that fragile recovery backward. Fewer flights mean fewer tourists, and fewer tourists mean lower occupancy at hotels, reduced restaurant traffic and diminished demand for excursions, cultural performances and local guides. Spanish hotel chains and Canadian tour operators, already contending with cost inflation and operational challenges, now face a month or more of disrupted activity in one of their key winter markets.
Some resorts have reportedly consolidated operations, temporarily closing underutilized properties to concentrate limited resources, including fuel for generators and transportation, on a smaller number of hotels. This kind of triage can help maintain a baseline level of service for those who do make it to the island, but it also underscores the strain the system is under. For workers whose incomes depend on tips and service charges, fewer guests translate directly into financial hardship.
For independent Cuban entrepreneurs, from owners of private restaurants to hosts offering rooms in family homes, the stakes are just as high. Many built their livelihoods around the steady arrival of foreign visitors. A prolonged dip in arrivals, or even a lingering perception that travel to Cuba is unreliable, could have lasting consequences long after jet fuel supplies are restored.
Will Air Canada Return, and When Might Normalcy Resume
Air Canada has been careful to frame its suspension as temporary. In its public communications, the airline has pledged to monitor the situation and determine an appropriate date to restart regular service once aviation fuel supplies stabilize. Tentative planning points to a possible resumption around early May, but that timeline is explicitly subject to review and hinges on whether Cuba can secure reliable fuel deliveries and lift the NOTAMs that currently restrict operations.
The path back to normalcy is likely to be uneven. Restoring flights will require not just fuel at airports, but also confidence among travelers and tour operators that the disruption will not be repeated weeks later. The political dynamics that triggered the blockade are unlikely to be resolved overnight. Even if some oil flows resume, the risk of further restrictions or logistical hiccups will shape how airlines plan their schedules for upcoming seasons.
In the meantime, Air Canada will look to redeploy aircraft capacity from its suspended Cuba routes to other destinations where demand remains strong and operational conditions are more stable. This may translate into added frequencies to Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica or domestic Canadian routes, as the airline seeks to keep its fleet productive during a crucial revenue period.
For Cuba, convincing airlines to restore and expand service will be essential to any strategy to revive tourism revenues. That may require not only addressing the immediate fuel shortage, but also offering clearer assurances on infrastructure resilience, airport services and government support. Until then, each additional week of restricted air access risks further eroding the island’s position in an increasingly competitive Caribbean travel market.
What Travelers Should Watch in the Coming Weeks
For would-be visitors and travel industry professionals alike, the Cuba fuel crisis and Air Canada suspension are a reminder of how quickly external forces can transform even the most familiar vacation plans. Over the next month, several key indicators will determine how the story evolves. Chief among them is whether Cuba manages to secure alternative fuel supplies or diplomatic accommodations that ease the blockade enough to restore Jet A-1 deliveries to its airports.
Travelers should pay close attention to updates from airlines and tour operators, not only regarding flight status but also on-the-ground conditions such as power reliability, resort operations and local transportation. Even after flights resume, it may take time for services to normalize, and early returning visitors will be the first to test how well contingency measures work in practice.
For Canada’s travel trade, the episode highlights the importance of flexible policies and clear communication. Agents and tour companies that can pivot clients quickly to alternative destinations, while preserving value and expectations, will be at an advantage in maintaining trust. Many will also be reassessing their risk exposure to destinations subject to geopolitical volatility or concentrated supply chains in critical areas like fuel and energy.
For now, the island that sold itself as an accessible winter paradise has become a case study in how global politics, energy security and aviation logistics intersect. Whether Cuba can turn the jets back on, and how swiftly Air Canada and its competitors return, will shape not only this winter’s travel season, but the trajectory of one of the Caribbean’s most storied and enigmatic destinations.