Flight cancellations to Cuba amid fuel shortage leaving many Torontonians in limbo

Air Canada, Air Transat and WestJet are cancelling Cuba flights from tomorrow to April 30 amid fuel concerns, while organizing return flights for Canadians.

Major Canadian airlines have suspended their flights to Cuba as the island faces fuel shortages, wiping out winter travel plans for many Torontonians and leaving others who had already travelled south in limbo.

“It’s been a little challenging at times, the biggest thing has been no hot water at times,” Lyon Lee, a Torontonian vacationing in Cayo Coco, told CP24 on Tuesday. “We’ve only had two nights of hot water. There has been a power outage here.”

Hotel staff have tried to resolve the matter as best they can, Lee says, though there is only so much they can do given the circumstances.

“We have a small child, a four-year-old, so shower time is obviously very difficult with cold water,” Lee said.

Nothing else has directly impacted his day-to-day, Lee says, though he noted resort staff have been asked to stay at the hotel a week at a time in an effort to conserve fuel.

“People are curious and concerned, mostly about the staff and the people here,” Lee said.

On Monday, Air Canada announced it is suspending service to Cuba, though the airline said it would fly empty flights southbound to pick up thousands of customers who are waiting to return home from the island—passengers like TTC spokesperson Stuart Green.

“As far as we know, the plane will come down empty from Toronto—it will have enough fuel to get back to Toronto—so that’s sort of the plan,” Green told CP24 Breakfast on Tuesday, adding that he is scheduled to return on Thursday. “I mean, we’re holding out now and we’ll see what happens on Thursday.”

• READ MORE: Cuba says airlines can no longer refuel on the island as U.S. blockade deepens energy crisis

Montreal-based Air Transat said it is pausing its service to Cuba until April 30 as a result of the jet fuel shortage, promising refunds for cancelled flights that were scheduled from Feb. 11 until the end of April.

Cathy Case and her husband, who visit Cuba twice a year, were destined for Cayo Cruz in a few weeks. Case’s husband called their travel agency to check in on the status of their flight after hearing the news to see if it was cancelled or not.

“They assured him, ‘No, only up to Feb. 25,’ and then at five o’clock this morning, my husband woke me up to tell me that our trip has been cancelled,” Case said in an interview with CP24 breakfast.

The only cost the couple has to eat is their travel insurance, Case said, as the airline is set to refund their trip.

WestJet, and by default Sunwing, is also winding down its winter operations to Cuba at this time in an effort to “lessen the strain” on Cuba’s resources, the airline said.

While some travel plans were thwarted before takeoff, other Canadians are left in tropical limbo, unsure of when they’ll return home.

• READ MORE: ‘We just want to go home’: Canadians in Cuba wait for answers as airlines adjust flights

Meisam Salahi told CTVNews.ca he and his family, including two young children under the age of six, were meant to return home from Cuba to Toronto Tuesday. There was no representative from Air Canada at their resort on Monday, Salahi says, leaving them unsure of what will happen next.

“We just want to go back home safely,” Salahi said. “I am very stressed out.”

Why is there a lack of fuel?

Cuban officials cautioned airlines earlier this week that there isn’t enough fuel for airplanes to refuel on the island, as the island attempts to ration its existing energy supply following the stoppage of its primary petroleum shipments.

Mexico was forced to halt its oil shipments to the Caribbean island after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on countries that send oil to Cuba.

Venezuela had been supplying oil to Cuba up until December, with cargo shipments falling off due to a U.S. blockade prior to their capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

• READ MORE: Clock ticks in Cuba as Trump cuts off Venezuelan oil

Venezuela was Cuba’s largest oil supplier in 2025, supplying the Caribbean island with 26,500 barrels per day, which amounted to a third of their daily needs, according to shipping data and internal documents from state company PDVSA. Mexico was the second biggest supplier, with around 5,000 barrels per day.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed serious concerns about Cuba’s rapidly dwindling energy supply, saying the humanitarian situation on the island “will worsen, if not collapse,” should its oil needs continue to be unfulfilled.

Cuba is facing an economic crisis. Outside of fuel shortages, the island is also experiencing electricity shortages, prompting Cuba to schedule daily power cuts that can, at times, last more than 24 hours, according to a Canadian travel advisory. The country also faces “chronic and severe shortages” of food, water and medicine.

With files from CTV News’ Lynn Chaya and Spencer Van Dyk, and Reuters