Air Transat aims to repatriate all its customers in Cuba within days

send Transat is aiming to acquire all of its customers come out of republic of cuba by next wed, amid a call for Canadians to avoid delaying their exit from the country.

Canada-to-Cuba flights have abruptly wound down in recent days, after Cuban authorities let it be known that a fuel shortage would prevent airplanes from refuelling on the island.

On Wednesday, Canada's federal government updated its travel advisory for Cuba, urging people to avoid all non-essential travel there and to not extend personal stays within the country.

The situation already prompted Air Canada, WestJet and Air Transat to wind down flights to the island country and to make plans to bring its customers home on an urgent basis.

On Thursday, Air Transat provided an update on its repatriation plan that it posted to its website.

It said it plans to repatriate 100 per cent of its customers "to their point of origin" by Wednesday, via outgoing flights that began on Feb. 11.

The company said new itineraries have been sent to all customers whose returns are scheduled to take place by Feb. 14.

Customers whose flights are due to take place between Feb. 15 and 17 are being sent confirmations for those journeys.

That leaves roughly 5,000 of its customers who will head home after Thursday.

The planes Air Transat is sending to Cuba to pick up travellers aren't ferrying Canadian vacationers into the country at this point.

"Air Transat flights are operating empty on the outbound leg from Canada and are being used exclusively for customer repatriation, with limited exceptions," the spokesperson said via email.

"These exceptions involve Cuban nationals who were visiting Canada and are being flown back to their original point of departure in Cuba."

Air Canada, meanwhile, announced Monday that it had begun flights to retrieve some 3,000 customers "already at destination and return them home" from Cuba.

The company did not immediately respond to an emailed request for an update on the status of its own repatriation effort.

WestJet also said Monday that it was winding down flights to Cuba and would be sending empty aircraft there to pick up vacationing customers so they could come home.

A WestJet spokesperson said via email Thursday that the airline continues "to make progress toward our goal of repatriating all Canadian guests currently in Cuba by February 17."

The spokesperson did not indicate how many WestJet customers remain in Cuba.

Cuba's fuel supply has come under pressure as the United States has moved to stop nearby suppliers, including Venezuela and Mexico, from providing oil to Havana.

Why is the U.S. Cutting Cuba off from the rest of the world? | About That

The U.S. forcibly removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power in January and now exercises a strong influence on Venezuela and its oil.

The U.S. Has also pressured Cuba's long-time ally Mexico to halt any supply of oil to Havana, and threatened sanctions on any country selling or providing oil to Cuba.

On Thursday, two Mexican navy ships docked in Cuba carrying humanitarian aid, including food supplies and personal hygiene items.

"Sometimes you think that things are going to improve, but it's not like that," said Javier González, a Cuban who spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday, as he watched the Mexican ships arrive.

"We can't stay how we are because it's too hard. We'll have to wait and see."

The cuts in fuel are expected to be another blow to Cuba's once-thriving tourism economy.

Cuba routinely welcomed more than 1 million Canadian visitors annually in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Cuba's tourism industry has been struggling more recently and fewer Canadians have been travelling there.

Cuba analyst Andrés Pertierra said the damage being done to the country's tourism industry will have spinoff effects.

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