Icelandair Application To Provide U.S.-Cuba Charter Flights Has Increasing Opposition- From U.S. Charter Operators.

LINK To Previous Post: 3,545 Miles From Its Headquarters, Icelandair Seeks To Operate Orlando-Havana Charter Flights Using 182-Passenger B757-223 Aircraft. Icelandair Services MCO-KEF Market. October 20, 2021

Airline Geeks
Tempe, Arizona
2 January 2022

Icelandair Applies for Cuban, Other Charter Flights
By Joey Gerardi

It is not unusual for an airline to operate charter flights during schedule downtime. Airlines in the U.S. have been found to operate many sports and athletic charters during off-peak seasons of the year. But Icelandair aircraft have been found in the most unusual places almost on a yearly basis, as the airline has been sending charters to the world’s most uninhabited continent, Antarctica.

The Icelandic airline has applied for an interesting set of flights, this time in a more tropical climate. The airline has requested to the Department of Transportation (DOT) for nearly 276 round-trip flights from the U.S. to Cuba, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic. The company requesting the charter flights, called the “charterer,” is Anmart Superior Travel LLC, a Miami-based travel agency that offers charter packages around the Caribbean and South America.

These charter flights have yet to be approved by the DOT, but the applied for charter flights are as follows: Miami – Havana, Cuba >> 136 round-trip flights; Houston Bush – Havana, Cuba >> 17 round-trip flights; Orlando – Havana, Cuba >> 21 round-trip flights.

If approved, all of the flights will take place between Feb.1, 2022, and May 31, 2022, with the exception of four of the 17 Orlando-Havana flights, which would take place between Jan. 11, 2022 and Feb.1, 2022. The aircraft type that would be operated on the routes wasn’t mentioned in the application but could be either of the airline’s aircraft types, the Boeing 757 or 737 MAX.

Charter flights to Cuba from the U.S. have become very popular, especially the Miami to Havana flights, of which Icelandair has applied to operate 136. Like anything, there will be — and has been — major opposition from the current operators on the route. Perhaps the largest charter airline flying between the U.S. and Cuba is Swift Air LLC, and they have sent in a letter to the DOT heavily objecting to the Icelandic carrier’s application, which they call a “Memorandum of Objection.”

Since the Swift Air objection letter was posted, two other charter airlines operating the Florida to Cuba sector have chimed in and joined Swift’s objection to the Icelandair application. The other two airlines are Caribbean Sun Airlines — a.k.a. World Atlantic Airlines — and recently started U.S.-based carrier Global Crossings Airlines a.k.a. GlobalX.

None of the objections mention any Icelandair’s applied for routes except flights to Cuba, with GlobalX specifically mentioning the Miami and Orlando flights. The Icelandic carrier submitted a reply to the objections from the three airlines, saying that “Swift’s objection is entirely misplaced and does not warrant denial of the instant applications” and that the Department of Transportation “should properly grant Icelandair’s requested allotment from the 2021-2022 Cuba pool.”

With the proposed Orlando to Cuba flights tentatively beginning in less than two weeks on Jan.11, 2022, the DOT should be posting a response to the airline’s objections, as well as the decision regarding Icelandair’s application very soon. None of the cities that Icelandair has applied for, except Orlando, currently offer scheduled flights onboard Icelandair, so this could be a great spotting opportunity for those in any of the mentioned cities, especially Miami, which could possibly see daily charter flights on Icelandair aircraft.

ch-aviation
Chur, Switzerland
30 December 2021

Icelandair (FI, Reykjavik Keflavik) has applied to the US Department of Transportation (DOT) for authority to operate 170 round-trip charter flights between the United States and Havana Int'l, Cuba prompting a flurry of objections from US carriers active in the market. The Icelandic carrier is planning to operate 136 round-trips from Miami Int'l and 17 each from Orlando Int'l and Houston Intc'l between February 1 and May 31, 2022, on behalf of Anmart Air tour operator using B757-200 aircraft.

Shortly after the application, iAero Airways (SWQ, Greensboro) objected to Icelandair's request on the grounds that granting the application would be detrimental to US carriers as they would be crowded out of the gradually reopening Cuban market. iAero pointed out that while it and other US carriers have resources allocated to the Cuban market and are "putting them back to work" as demand returns, Icelandair is acting opportunistically without a comparable long-term investment. iAero underlined that it has aircraft available to operate on behalf of Anmart Air, and thus the market would not suffer if Icelandair was denied the rights.

The US-based charter and leisure specialist added that Icelandair was becoming "unduly reliant" on seventh-freedom operations from the US to markets other than Iceland. iAero said, based on Icelandair's own data, that last year, the carrier operated 1,601 round-trips from Reykjavik Keflavik to the US. "By comparison, Icelandair proposes to operate 170 seventh-freedom round trip flights over a 119-day period, which is an annualized rate of 521 round trip flights. More than 20% of Icelandair's US operations will be seventh freedom operations. In these circumstances, this is undue reliance... The Applications appear to reflect Icelandair's intent to establish a year-round seventh-freedom operation between the United States and Cuba," iAero pointed out.

GLOBALX (GXA, Miami Int'l) and World Atlantic Airlines (WL, Miami Int'l) echoed iAero Airways' concerns. "Icelandair's primary reason for seeking approval on an additional 170 flights over a four-month period is to impose an economic hardship on the current US air carriers. Icelandair has not provided any data that indicates that the current air carriers are incapable of handling the current and future passenger demand," the former said. World Atlantic Airways further alleged that Icelandair's ability to serve Cuba on a long-term basis was "less certain" due to the carrier's lack of previous investment in the market.

The Icelandic carrier swiftly refuted iAero Airways' and GLOBALX's allegations. The former's criticism of "undue reliance" on seventh-freedom operations was misplaced, it said, as the calculation was based on a severely reduced number of flights from Iceland operated during the pandemic. Icelandair stressed that usually, its presence in the US is far greater than just the 1,601 yearly round-trips. It added that iAero Airways' allegation of a lack of reciprocity was equally misplaced as it was impossible to compare the size of demand from/to the US and Iceland.

Icelandair further argued that iAero Airways does not have aircraft available to meet Anmart Air's needs. "It is Icelandair's understanding that Swift's [iAero Airways'] fleet consists of B737-400s [the airline also operates B737-800s, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows]. The Department will observe that the agreement executed between Icelandair and Anmart is for a B757-223. As the Department knows, the B757 has far larger baggage holds than the B737-400s. Maximum baggage capacity is critical to the proposed charter application. This is so because Anmart's clientele on this route are primarily Cuban-Americans visiting family. As such, they routinely and reliably travel with as many as five bags each," Icelandair pointed out.

The carrier rejected claims that it was depriving US carriers of opportunities since "there [were] presently no other pending applications before the Department for allotment from the pool (by GLOBALX or any other carrier)". Icelandair admitted that it did not provide any data indicating that US carriers could not meet market demand but stressed that it had no regulatory or statutory obligation to do so. The airline "vehemently" rejected claims that it was seeking to establish a year-round presence on the US-Cuba charter market. The US-Cuba charter market is currently capped at 3,600 round-trips per year.

Icelandair also applied for the allocation of charter traffic rights from Miami to Quito Int'l, Guayaquil, and Punta Cana, with 34 round-trips planned to each of the destinations in the same period (February 1-May 31, 2022), also on behalf of Anmart Air. However, traffic rights to Ecuador and the Dominican Republic are less restricted, and these applications did not prompt any objections.