Thursday, November 16, 2017
By Silvio Canto, Jr.
Trump is getting results on Cuba
Let’s add another airline to the list of airlines adjusting their flights to Cuba.
And it looks like President Trump’s new rules are having their impact:
Alaska Airlines will end its flights to Cuba in January, a year after launching a daily Los Angeles-Havana route that began with great fanfare but was fading even before President Donald Trump last week imposed new restrictions on travel to the island nation.After its 737-900ER makes a final Havana flight on Jan. 22, Alaska initially will use that jet to add an eighth daily run between Seattle and Orange County, California, said John Kirby, the airline’s vice president of capacity planning.The Trump administration’s shift “probably was the proverbial straw,” he said, but “we were already looking pretty hard at an exit based on the bookings, so I would not pin this on the regulations changing.”
Trump the straw? Yes, the straw that broke the camel’s back — but Cuba has a lot of issues as a tourist destination, especially when it has to compete with Cancun, Mexico, and other Caribbean destinations.
For years, Cuba was a cheap destination. The Castro regime attracted tourists on pure “price”, as I saw with many of my friends in Mexico. They would tell you about how cheap it was but would complain about everything else.
Alaska is not the only airline to change its Cuba plans. American Airlines reduced its number of flights. Other airlies like Silver Air and Spirit Airlines dropped their flights, too. Frontier has announced that it will stop in June.
So what happened to Cuba as a destination? It’s the same old Cuba — a place without the tourism infrastructure that U.S. tourists demand for their dollar!
Also, U.S. tourists are not interested in the revolution but rather a fun place to visit for their vacation.
Cuba is not and it won’t be as long as the Castro regime is running the hotels and everything else.
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.