Ottawa area couple’s Cuba vacation cut short due to fuel shortages

An Aylmer, Que. man is one of thousands of Canadians waiting for a flight home from Cuba as the island grapples with fuel shortages. CTV’s Dylan Dyson reports.

Aylmer, Que. resident Steve Chapman and his wife only just arrived at their Varadero, Cuba resort on Saturday, and are being told to pack their bags again.

“We were scheduled to return on the 28th of February, but obviously I think we’re leaving before that,” Chapman told CTV News on Wednesday.

Their return flight through Toronto with WestJet has been cancelled, with no information provided yet on when they will be leaving the island nation.

“We spoke to the agent on the ground here at the hotel, and she told us that we will be receiving an email that is giving us our scheduled flight out.”

Canadian airlines have announced they are cancelling future flights into Cuba amid a fuel shortage, which would prevent planes from re-fueling before returning to their country of origin.

Airlines — including WestJet, Air Canada, and Air Transat — have said they will re-patriate Canadian passengers currently in the country.

“There’s about 35, 40 flights a week to go between Canada and Cuba. So there has to be 35 or 40 flights set up over the next X number of days,” said John Gradek, a faculty lecturer of Supply Networks and Aviation Management at McGill University.

In a statement to CTV News, WestJet wrote, “Due to the ongoing fuel shortage in Cuba, our aircraft are being dispatched with sufficient fuel onboard to safely return to Canada without refueling in destination. To support this requirement, several originally scheduled flights have been adjusted or cancelled, and are now consolidated through Toronto.”

As of Monday, Global Affairs Canada said there were approximately 7,200 Canadians registered in Cuba.

Gradek says it should only be a matter of days before they are back on home soil.

“I’d say for those 7,200, by Saturday, they’re home.”

Chapman says he and his wife will continue to enjoy the white sand beaches of Varadero until they are forced to return to the white snow blanketing the National Capital Region.

“We’re just going with the flow and when we get the tap on the shoulder to leave, we’ll do it.”

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