As the U.S. expands access to Cuba, Macri cancels Aerolíneas Argentinas route to Havana.
The Argentine flagship airline Aerolíneas Argentinas announced today that it will no longer fly to Cuba. The twice-weekly Buenos Aires-Havana route will be discontinued effective July 27, company officials said.
Officials cited a decrease in demand for flights to Havana to justify the decision. Occupancy rates in this route, inaugurated just two years ago, fell from 78% in the Summer (January and February) of 2015 to 64% this Summer. The trend, however, is not unique to the Havana route as overseas flight volume from Argentina has generally declined since President Mauricio Macri ordered a 40% devaluation last December.
CEO Isela Costantini, a Macri appointee, explained that Cuba is an "expensive destination" for Argentines, and that they now prefer other Caribbean destinations such as Cancún (Mexico) and Punta Cana (Dominican Republic). The Airbus 340 that normally covers that route, she said, would be used to increase frequencies to these two alternative destinations.
Aerolíneas Argentinas and its affiliated domestic carrier, Austral, have shed a number of domestic and foreign routes since Macri took office five months ago, and Costantini has confirmed that more will be discontinued in the coming months.
The current crisis at the flagship airline originated in the Macri administration's decision to reduce its annual subsidy from $420 million in 2015 to $260 million this year (a 38% cut), and has been exacerbated by a decline in passengers since Macri's devaluation. The situation was described by Costantini in a leaked company memo as "a complex situation that will require that all 12,000 employees make an extra effort to cut costs."
Critics, however, believe political motives lurk behind the decision to discontinue flights to Havana, which, like the flights to Punta Cana, required a stop over in Caracas, Venezuela. Macri's right-wing party, PRO, is openly hostile to the Castro and Maduro governments in Cuba and Venezuela, respectively.
They likewise point to possible conflicts of interest behind the sharp cutbacks at Aerolíneas, since Macri's Secretary of Public Policy Coordination, Gustavo Lopetegui, had served as CEO of its chief rival LAN Argentina until his appointment.
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