Air France suspends Paris-Havana route March 28-June 15 over fuel shortage

Air France will suspend direct service between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and José Martí International Airport in Havana, the carrier announced on March 4, 2026; the suspension begins March 28 and is scheduled to run through June 15, 2026, with the airline citing Cuba’s jet fuel shortage and its impact on tourism and other economic activity as the reason. The announcement makes the Paris–Havana link unavailable for more than two months and places an explicit resumption date on the carrier’s short-term planning.

Operational strains have already forced changes to the route this winter. Air France has been routing return flights with a technical stop for fuel in the Bahamas - "Those flights are currently stopping in the Bahamas on return trips to refuel, according to Air France." The suspension follows a Cuban government notification on Feb. 8 that "jet fuel would not be available at nine airports across the island, including José Martí International Airport in Havana, until March 11," a disruption that prompted airlines to alter routings and timetables.

The knock-on effects extend beyond a single route. Air Canada announced on Feb. 9 that it was suspending service to Cuba until further notice; before that decision the carrier operated on average 16 weekly flights to four destinations across Cuba from Toronto and Montreal. There was no immediate reaction from Cuban authorities to Air France’s March 4 announcement, leaving airlines and travel operators facing uncertainty about fuel access after the March 11 date set in Havana’s notice.

For Cubans and Havana-dependent businesses the suspension is acute. "The suspension hits Cubans on the Caribbean island especially hard. They relied on such flights to reach Europe since they are unable to go via the United States," a reality that gives the Paris connection outsized importance for family travel, medical trips and business links. The move arrives amid wider strains: Cuba’s tourism industry is described as withering amid severe blackouts, dwindling oil reserves and heightened tensions with the United States, factors that compound the immediate operational problem of getting jet fuel to airports.

Air France’s temporary cut comes as the carrier is also adjusting other long-haul schedules this spring and summer; schedule data show the airline will convert nonstop service between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Manila into a seasonal operation from May 4 to October 12, 2026, operating three times per week on Airbus A350-900 equipment. For the Paris–Havana route, Air France has set June 15, 2026 as the date to resume direct flights; until then, passengers and freight moving between France and Cuba will face reroutes, technical stops and limited direct capacity.