Canadian tour operators' favourite winter playground is in trouble. A coalition of 26 Canadian social and labour organisations, the Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC), has formally asked Ottawa to lift its advisory against non-essential travel to Cuba, push Canadian airlines to resume direct flights, and shield Canadian businesses operating on the island from the reach of US sanctions.

The CNC's demands go beyond aviation. The group wants stronger economic, cultural and scientific cooperation with Havana, humanitarian assistance, and continued Canadian backing at the United Nations for a resolution urging an end to the US embargo. Tess Stuber, coordinator of the network's Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade, put the flight resumption front and centre, while co-chair Julio Fonseca asked Ottawa to authorise at least one humanitarian flight per week so Cuban-Canadians can visit relatives. "Maintaining family ties is a basic human need for us; it is not a luxury," he said.

Why did flights stop in the first place? Canada currently warns its citizens against non-essential travel to Cuba, citing shortages of fuel, electricity, food and medicine. All Canadian airlines have suspended service to the island. The crunch came after Washington tightened pressure in January on countries shipping oil to Cuba, which triggered an aviation fuel shortage and prompted the major carriers to pull out.

The numbers show how brutal the fallout has been. Canada has been Cuba's single biggest source of tourists for decades — over a million Canadians visited every year between 2011 and 2019, and even in 2025 the total was around 754,000. But between January and August of this year, only 128,400 Canadians arrived, a drop of 75.6% year on year, according to Cuba's National Office of Statistics and Information.

For travellers, the practical picture right now is simple: if you hold a Canadian passport, package holidays to Varadero or Havana via your national carriers are off the table until airlines restore routes. Europeans and other visitors still flying into Cuba should expect fuel-related disruption and keep an eye on the power situation when booking. Whether Ottawa responds to the CNC's lobbying — and how quickly fuel supplies stabilise — will decide whether the usual Canadian snowbird crowds return for the next high season. Anyone with trips booked or planned should monitor both the Canadian government's travel advisory and their airline's route updates before committing.