Six international routes operated from Fort Lauderdale Airport will depart from US airline Southwest.These are Havana (Cuba), Cancun (Mexico), Grand Cayman (Cayman Islands), Nassau (Bahamas), Providenciales (Turks and Caicos Islands), and Punta Cana (Dominican Republic).
The fact is that, according to many media outlets, all routes will go to Orlando, except Havana. In fact, since Orlando has a crew base in Southwest, from there it will add non-stop flights to San Jose (Costa Rica).
According to the company, the expansion of its airlines led to these changes in flight plans. To this end, 30 new options were introduced in the latest schedule update, extending bookings until 4 August 2024.
But what happens with Cuba?
During October, Southwest continued to operate three daily flights to Jose Martí International Airport from Fort Lauderdale. In addition, it also has one daily flight from Tampa and two flights on Saturdays.
But it happened that last September, three American airlines confirmed reducing their flights to Cuba. We are talking about JetBlue, which suspended its flights as of September 17th. Although United Airlines and Delta Air Lines also joined after realizing the decline in demand for travel to the country.
But North American companies were not the only ones, some Spanish airlines also reduced their flights.
At the same time, there is speculation that this decrease in flights to Cuba may lead to a new increase in ticket prices.
Another factor that undermines interest in trips to Havana is the complex economic situation that the country is experiencing.
Meanwhile, Southwest notes that the decision to change services is due to post-pandemic travel trends. In addition, there is also a competitive landscape with other airlines such as JetBlue, Spirit Airlines, and Frontier Airlines.
