Cubana de Aviación cancels Madrid-Santiago-Havana route amid sanctions fears

The only weekly Madrid-Santiago de Cuba-Havana-Madrid flight disappeared on May 12, and with it a lifeline many Cuba-bound travelers had been leaning on. Cubana de Aviación said the suspension took effect immediately after Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas, which had been flying the route under an aircraft-and-crew lease, told the Cuban carrier it was stopping service.

For passengers, the fallout was immediate. Diaspora families trying to split time between Madrid, Santiago de Cuba and Havana lost a direct option right in the middle of summer booking season, when seats are already scarce and every extra connection makes a long trip more expensive and less reliable. Cubana said refunds would be handled under existing rules, but the bigger problem is that one of the few direct Spain-Cuba links to eastern Cuba has now vanished.

Cubana framed Plus Ultra’s withdrawal as a force majeure response to the latest U.S. sanctions pressure, especially the May 1 executive order signed by Donald Trump and titled “Imposing Sanctions on Those Responsible for Repression in Cuba and for Threats to United States National Security and Foreign Policy.” Plus Ultra said its decision was tied to the risk created by that order. The U.S. State Department followed on May 7 by designating GAESA, the military conglomerate that dominates large parts of Cuba’s economy, and said it controls an estimated 40 percent or more of the island’s economy.

The cancellation also underlines how brittle Cuba’s air network has become. Cubana had already trimmed the Madrid route in February because of the island’s fuel crisis, forcing the return leg to stop in Santo Domingo for refueling. Iberia has said it will suspend direct Madrid-Havana flights in June, after cutting to two weekly flights in May, and it has already had to make technical refueling stops in Santo Domingo because jet fuel was unavailable at several Cuban airports.

The damage is spreading beyond one airline. Reporting in Cuba has put the number of suspended carriers this year at 11, with more than 1,700 flights canceled and only eight airlines still serving the island. CiberCuba reported that Cuba confirmed jet fuel shortages at nine international airports on February 9, and that tourism in January and February was down by 112,000 visitors year on year, while hotel occupancy fell to 18.9 percent. With Spain one of Cuba’s most important European markets, the loss of this route is another sign that the island’s air bridges are not just thinning, they are becoming fragile enough to break.