May 09, 2008
Flight No. 9470 Departs at 8:00 am - American, Gulfstream and Sky King
Work the US-Cuba Run
By: Michael Orr, mike.orr@airlineinfo.comThis email address is being
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AirlineInfo.com
While the overall number of charter prospectuses filed has dropped every
year since 1999, the percentage of applications directed toward Cuba has
remained nearly the same. Since 2004, charters to Cuba have comprised
between sixteen and twenty percent of total prospectuses, despite its
seemingly off-limits appearance. In fact, if asked, most ordinary
citizens would probably expect that civilian travel from the United
States to Cuba is completely prohibited. To the contrary, families have
returned to the island on an annual basis for years. In 2004,
restrictions were tightened making family trips available only once
every three years. If families returning to the island can only travel
one-third as often as previously, what accounts for the sustained number
of charter applications?
Increasingly, flights chartered to Cuba have centered on Havana. Prior
to the tightening of restrictions in 2004, as many as forty percent of
these charters landed in Camaguey, Cienfuegos, Holguin or Santiago de
Cuba. But each year the demographics of the chartered flights change. In
2007, sixty-eight percent of Cuban charters were for Havana and thus far
in 2008, three out of every four will land in the capital. As Castro's
failing health and possibilities for reform and humanitarian aid have
risen in the past five years, so too have the numbers of non-native
travelers to Cuba.
According to Gulfstream Airlines, a major provider of chartered flights
to the island from Miami, the majority of its passengers remain families
returning for a visit but each year the numbers of humanitarian
volunteers, government officials and journalists have increased. This
could help explain how in a somewhat slowing charter market, flights to
Cuba operated at ninety-seven percent capacity in 2008.
So despite the popular notion that travel to and from the United States
to Cuba is limited, it would appear that sustained charter activity is
the case, with particular growth in flights to Havana.
To view a chart of recent charters go to:
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