Skip to content

Southwest and American Airlines Are Feuding Over Cuba Routes

Oct. 17, 2018
2 min read
Cuba-American-Relations
Southwest and American Airlines Are Feuding Over Cuba Routes
The cards we feature here are from partners who compensate us when you are approved through our site, and this may impact how or where these products appear. We don’t cover all available credit cards, but our analysis, reviews, and opinions are entirely from our editorial team. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information.

Southwest and American Airlines are in a regulatory feud about Cuba routes.

In filings with the US Department of Transportation obtained by the Charlotte Business Journal, American Airlines is requesting to shift its Charlotte (CLT) to Havana (HAV) route to depart out of Miami (MIA) because the CLT flight is only operating at 55% capacity, meaning each flight is only about half full. American already has routes out of Miami to Havana.

The problem with American's plan is that once an airline route is approved by government officials, an airline can't up and change the departure city because the flight isn't performing well financially. The way the regulations are now, AA would have to first end its CLT-HAV route and then compete with other airlines to win another MIA-HAV slot, of which there are only 20 nationwide.

So, in its regulatory filing, American acknowledged this and asked for an exception to the rule. The paperwork asks the DOT to let airlines determine themselves from what cities to fly to Cuba. "This flexibility would allow American to bring additional benefits to the traveling public, while ensuring that all carriers can respond efficiently to further shifts in demand in the US-Cuba market," AA told the Dallas Business Journal.

Southwest scoffed at this logic. "In essence, American's Motion would substitute its own self-interest for the Department's public interest decisions," the airline wrote to the DOT in its own regulatory filing.

The two airlines — along with JetBlue — had also been competing for a Havana route from New York JFK that Delta announced it no longer wanted to fly in August. Southwest wanted to add a Tampa (TPA) to Havana route.

Daily Newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts

The DOT seemed to side with Southwest, saying that an additional Miami to Havana flight "would not promote competition or diversify our frequency allocations to the same degree as would a second Saturday flight at Tampa, a city that currently has just one daily flight."