!"#$%&'()*+ • Routes Americas 2016 Cuba influx a long way off
A new deal between the United States and Cuba to restore regular air travel between the two countries for the first time in 50 years will not see an influx of flights overnight.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) announced last month will allow up to 110 daily commercial flights to take place between the US and Havana and nine other destinations on the communist island.
However, despite the US authorities now inviting US airlines to submit formal applications to operate the flights, with many routes expected to be set up in months, speakers warned delegates not to expect numerous ! new flights immediately.
Peter Cerdá, IATA’s Regional VP in the Americas, said it could be some time before these available frequencies come to fruition. He added: “While Havana gaining 20 new flights per day will not create an overcapacity, it could be four or five
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years before all these 110 flights are up and running as we don’t currently have the infrastructure in place to support them. This isn’t necessarily the airports but also hotels and road link.” While the full impact of the MoU might not be immediate, senior airline delegates at the event also highlighted the potential of growing into Cuba.
‘Team up with cruise lines’
Airlines and cruise companies need to work closer together if they are to defeat problems common to them both. Terry Thornton, Carnival Cruise Lines’ SVP of itinerary planning, said governments around the world regularly regard both sectors as soft targets for taxation and fees.
Thornton said: “Both the airline industry and the cruise industry have been deemed easy targets.
“As much as we can we need to work together, being fair about the services we’re consuming and paying a proper price for that.”
Thornton also argued in regions such as Latin America, airlines and cruise companies can work together for the benefit of both.
He said resources could be shared on a number of measures in the region,
including emarketing campaigns, frequent travel programmes and “earn and burn” loyalty programmes. Thornton said the cruise industry not only faced a struggle with national governments when trying to set up new home ports, but also those with more localised interests.
He cited the example of Cancun in Mexico where Carnival has been trying to set up a home port where cruise itineraries can start and finish. “We got push back from the local Mexico hotels in Cancun,” Thornton added. “They said you’re going to steal all of our business and all of our airlift.” However, he argued local hotels would have benefited from extra business as cruisers book hotel nights locally before or after their trips while the cruise lines tend to arrange their own airlift.
Ahead of Routes Americas 2016, Air Canada announced it will begin a twice-daily non-stop service between Hamilton and Montreal. Christopher de Man !"#$%&, Air Canada’s Senior Network Planning Manager, North America ! celebrated the new route with Vantage Airport Group’s Air Service Development team members Moong Zhang and Manager Jeremy Pennington during the event in ! San Juan.
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David Harvey, Southwest Airlines Managing Director, Business Development, confirmed the carrier would pitch for some of these frequencies. He said: “We have engaged in discussions leading up to this historic signing ceremony and will participate in a US Department of Transportation frequency allocation proceeding.”
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