Icelandair To Operate U.S.-Cuba Flights Using "Wet Lease" With Boeing 757-200 Aircraft

Simple Flying
St. Laurent, Quebec, Canada
18 July 2022

Icelandair Approved To Fly US-Cuba Charter Flights
By Andrew Curran

Icelandair overcame objections from US-based interests to win approval to operate wet lease charter flights between the US & Cuba this summer. The US Department of Transportation has approved an application by Icelandair to fly up to 31 round trip flights a week between the United States and Cuba on behalf of Florida-based World Atlantic Airlines. The approval for the flights this summer came despite strident objections from the Air Line Pilots Association, Swift Air, and the Allied Pilots Association. 

In mid-June, Simple Flying reported Icelandair's application to wet lease a Boeing 757-200 to World Atlantic Airlines to operate the flights. It is not the first time Icelandair has done this. For example, earlier this year, Icelandair flew between three US cities and Cuba on behalf of Miami-based Anmart Air. 

Icelandair will send a Boeing 757-200 (pictured) to World Atlantic Airlines to operate the charter flights to Cuba. Photo" Vincenzo Pace/Simple Flying  

But as that report noted, US-based aviation players don't like outside players encroaching onto what they see as their turf. Dark claims of harm to US interests and abuse of flying rights were raised. The Department of Transportation (DOT) says it considered all of the objections, including procedural aspects, market access, competitive factors, travel restrictions, and some public interest factors. But the DOT says the arguments were not persuasive enough to knock back Icelandair's application. 

"We have decided to approve Icelandair's application," says the DOT in its approval notice that gives Icelandair permission to operate the flights between July 14 and October 31. The DOT says several factors got the Icelandair application over the line; including reciprocity in Icelandair's home market; the level of Icelandair's reliance on seventh-freedom operations as compared to its third/fourth-freedom operations; the needs of the charterer (World Atlantic Airlines); and the public interest.  "We find that sufficient reciprocity exists with Iceland to support grant of the carrier's extra bilateral request as conditioned and note that there is no evidence on the record from any party to indicate that the Government of Iceland has denied seventh-freedom charter requests of US carriers," the DOT notice says.  Seventh freedom refers to the right to fly between two foreign countries, whereas third and fourth freedom flying rights deal with flying from an airline's home country to another country. One of the objections raised was that Icelandair relied too much on seventh freedom flying instead of focusing on flights to and from Iceland. In airline circles, that is a big no-no. 

"We have also considered the undue reliance claim, a factor that we take very seriously. That claim is not supported in this case," says the DOT. The US Government department also says it prefers to offer charterers like World Atlantic Airlines the maximum flexibility possible when choosing an airline and aircraft to best suit their operational needs. The DOT says World Atlantic clearly argued why Icelandair was best suited to meet its needs.  "This factor, along with our findings above supports the granting of the requested authority under our well-established public interest standards for considering requests of this nature." adds the DOT when providing some context to the decision.

Simpleflying.com
St. Laurent, Quebec, Canada
18 July 2022

Planned Wet Lease Icelandair Flights To Cuba Encounter Some Turbulence
By Andrew Curran

World Atlantic Airlines want to wet lease an Icelandair jet to fly to Cuba this summer, but some sections of the US airline industry are crying foul. 

Plans by charter carrier World Atlantic Airlines to wet lease an Icelandair Boeing 757-200 to fly seasonal services between the US and Cuba this summer have encountered fierce opposition from sections of the US airline industry. Icelandair wants to send their Boeing south pronto to begin operating 31 round trips a week between the two countries and capitalize on the peak northern summer flying season. 

In a June 3 letter to the US Department of Transportation (DOT), Icelandair asks for permission to wet lease the 197-seat aircraft on a long-term basis to World Atlantic Airlines to operate flights between July 15 and October 31, 2022. While the letter says the aircraft will "primarily" fly the US-Cuba country pair, they want wriggle room to fly the plane to other unspecified Caribbean countries. With a tight deadline, Icelandair also asks the DOT to waive the usual 45-day advance notification requirement. 

Readers will likely know Reykjavík-based Icelandair. They serve around a dozen US airports. But World Atlantic Airlines is a different matter. The Miami-based charter operator was formerly known as Caribbean Sun Airlines and operates a tight fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-83 planes. What seems to be getting up the noses of the US airline industry is Icelandair's incursion onto their turf, namely the US - Cuba routes. 

It's not the first time Icelandair has done this. They've spent much of the last 12 months annoying their US rivals with DOT applications to fly wet lease charter flights between the US and Cuba. As recently as last year, World Atlantic Airlines was crying foul over an Icelandair's proposal to fly seasonal charter services (February - May 2022) to Cuba out of three US ports on behalf of Anmart Air. But the DOT gave Icelandair the greenlight anyway. Now, perhaps World Atlantic Airlines thinks if you can't beat them, you might as well join them. 

As Icelandair points out in its June 3 letter, the proposed service is in line with the bilateral US - Cuba air service agreement and "with comity and reciprocity between the Governments of Cuba and Iceland." 

But North Carolina-based Swift Air calls the application "Icelandair's latest attempt to establish a permanent, year-round seventh-freedom operating base in the United States so it can fly between the US and a third non-open skies country. The Application does not describe the wet lease terms at all and even leaves open which markets World Atlantic and Icelandair propose to serve." 

The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) has told the DOT that Icelandair's proposed operations would "do direct and substantial harm to US operators in the market." ALPA argues the US-Cuba market is not an open skies market, and US carrier operations remain severely constrained by the OFAC restrictions, which strictly limit the categories of US passengers that are allowed to travel to Cuba. Further, ALPA says Icelandair's proposed seventh freedom passenger operation (more than four daily flights) exceeds its level of Iceland-US flights and constitutes "undue reliance" on seventh freedom traffic. 

"This represents an exponential increase in Icelandair's seventh freedom passenger operations," says ALPA's submission to the DOT. "Taken on an annual basis, it exceeds Icelandair's third and fourth freedom services between the US and Iceland. As such, denial is compelled under the established doctrine of undue reliance." 

ALPA's letter sounds nice and lawyerly. But Icelandair weathered similar strident objections last year and got its proposals past the DOT. On that basis, they are probably confident of a repeat summer in Cuba season. With flights slated to start from mid-July, Icelandair and World Atlantic Airlines must be counting on a DOT decision soon.